Should people with serious mental illnesses threatening to conduct mass killings have access to military-grade weaponry? Views differ
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The more that comes out about Lewiston, the more it seems that these killing were eminently preventable:
The Army Reserve and a Maine sheriff’s department were aware of a reservist’s deteriorating mental health more than five months before he killed 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, according to records released on Monday. Just six weeks ago, the records show, he had grown increasingly paranoid, punched a friend and said he was going to carry out a shooting spree.
But there is no indication in the documents that any law enforcement officials ever made contact with the reservist, Robert R. Card II, 40, who carried out the deadliest mass shooting in America this year and set off a two-day manhunt before he was found dead.
The warnings about Mr. Card were far more explicit than Maine officials had publicly acknowledged in the days since the shooting on Oct. 25. They came from Mr. Card’s family members — who believed he was hearing voices — and his Army Reserve unit in Saco, Maine, and were investigated by the Sheriff’s Office in Sagadahoc County, where Mr. Card lived.
[…]
Federal officials have said that Mr. Card legally bought some guns just days before the shooting. The F.B.I. said there was nothing to prevent him from legally purchasing weapons.
Despite Mr. Card’s behavior, the Sheriff’s Office did not try to use Maine’s “yellow flag” law, which allows the police to take away people’s guns after having them evaluated by a medical practitioner, and with a judge’s approval.
The entire story is infuriating.