[A CA Guy]

Want to be honest?
The guy had known mental issues and may have been on meds.
Used to lock up these people for life and then we got civil.

Choose, civil as this is or jail them before it happens.

You can’t have the best of both worlds.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

There was a time when mental cases like this were committed to asylums after being judged dangerous to themselves or others.
The asylums were largely closed by the early 60s.

[corlorde]

Who gets to determine what “mental issues” warrant incarceration, “for life”? You? The Government? Your statement is dangerous.

[never4get]

....what this gunman's mental health was is all speculation at this point. If very serious danger to society, and he was let loose then the doctor’s who auth’d same should be sued civilly and brought up on criminal charges....That being said, if he was of only mild impairment, with no evidence of any danger to others...how in the world do you see this coming, or have him committed. We just do not know....One thing that does seem clear is that some how his family did have guns and they were available to him, and it would appear not locked safely away. That concerns me. If you want to own a gun you better take responsibility for that gun...Again, maybe he broke the locks to get to them....everything at this point is speculation...and my point is that a statement liberals are responsible or complicit in any manner for what happened is not accurate at all without any evidence to support same. The gunman on the other hand pulled the trigger...He cannot escape responsibility.

[bray]

Probably on Ritalin which a high percentage of these shooters are on. Side effects are feelings of suicide and murder.

Pray for America

[shhrubbery!]

Used to lock up these people for life and then we got civil. Choose, civil as this is or jail them before it happens.

Agree that the '60s de-institutionalization movement had some terrible consequences.

But nobody on FR, I hope, would advocate locking someone up simply because he acted "odd." E.g. a loner type who shunned the general culture, for whatever reason.

That would be a sure recipe for Soviet-style forced "psychiatric" incarceration. FReepers would be the first to be thrown in Obama's psychiatric gulag.

[EverOnward]

Yes, it is time to regulate crazy people NOT guns.

[Catsrus]

Unfortunately, as great a president as Ronald Reagan was - he is the one who shut down the mental health hospitals and hospitals for the criminally insane. From my research, it actually cost less to run these facilities than it does for all the “feel good” programs out there. Many who were released when the hospitals closed, ended up homeless or in jail. Many commit minor crimes so that they get what they call “3 hots and a cot,” for the winter months. The jails are also now serving as mental health coordinators.

Sorry, Mr. Reagan - this was one policy that wasn’t good for this nation.