Posted on 11/01/2023 10:45:04 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Criticism of the state’s "yellow flag" statute is doubly misguided.
Five months before an Army Reserve sergeant killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine, his relatives told police he was increasingly paranoid, erroneously complaining that people were describing him as a pedophile. Two months later, he underwent a psychiatric evaluation after service members who were training with him at West Point reported that he was behaving erratically, and last month he told a friend he was "going to shoot up the drill center" at his base in Saco, Maine.
The fact that the 40-year-old petroleum supply specialist nevertheless managed to commit his horrifying crimes last week, after which he killed himself, underlines the challenge of identifying and thwarting mass murderers. But contrary to what some critics claimed, the problem was not Maine's "woefully weak" gun regulations.
On its face, Maine's "yellow flag" law, enacted in 2019, could have made a crucial difference in this case. It authorizes police, after taking someone into "protective custody" based on probable cause to believe he is "mentally ill" and poses a threat to himself or others, to ask a "medical practitioner" for an assessment of whether the detainee "presents a likelihood of foreseeable harm."
If the medical practitioner thinks so, police "shall" seek a court order temporarily barring the individual from obtaining or possessing firearms. The respondent is entitled to a hearing within 14 days, after which the order can be extended for up to a year based on "clear and convincing evidence" of a threat.
Since the Maine killer was released after his psychiatric evaluation at West Point's Keller Army Community Hospital, where he stayed for two weeks, he apparently did not meet the state's criteria for involuntary commitment. But that needn't have been the end of the matter.
After the shootings, neighbors in Bowdoin said the sergeant's psychological problems were "pretty well-known." The Maine Information and Analysis Center had alerted police about his "recently reported mental health issues," including "hearing voices and threats to shoot up the National Guard Base in Saco, ME."
The local sheriff's office had received disturbing reports from "increasingly concerned" relatives, a friend, and the Saco base. But its investigation did not result in an assessment or a court order, possibly because police thought his relatives had "a way to secure his weapons."
Gun control activists complained that Maine's "yellow flag" law is harder to use than the "red flag" laws that 21 states have enacted, which have fewer and weaker procedural protections. That criticism seems doubly misguided.
First, this looks like a situation where Maine's law could have been used but for some reason was not. Second, the state's requirements are aimed at minimizing the number of people who lose their Second Amendment rights for no good reason.
Weaker protections for respondents might make effective intervention more likely. Or they might not.
Despite what in retrospect looks like clear warning signs, New York's "red flag" law did not prevent the massacre that killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket in 2022. Nor did California's "red flag" law prevent two mass shootings that killed 18 people in that state last January.
One thing is clear: Casting a wider net inevitably means that more people will be deprived of their constitutional rights even when they do not actually pose a threat to public safety. That is true not only of "red flag" laws but also of the federal ban on gun possession by people who have been involuntarily committed to psychiatric institutions, which applies no matter how long ago that happened and regardless of whether they were ever deemed a threat to others.
Police said the Maine murderer was legally allowed to buy guns because he had no such record. The answer, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says, is laxer standards for civil commitment rather than stricter gun control. Both prescriptions ignore the tradeoff between civil liberties and crime prevention, which activists and politicians, try as they might, cannot wish away.
You musta forgot them pesky amendments ain’t absolute per joementia...........
Like all other shooters the shrinks had him and let him go. No doubt the drugs they put him on worsened his condition. Heck he’s probably been on psychotropics the entire time.
Maine’s law could have been used but for some reason was not
A law is only as effective as those who will enforce it. Looks like Maines “yellow flag” law included Just Cause and Due Process or am I missing something?
Are we ever going to get the truth about what medications they were on?
This is not the "angry ex-wife" or "lib brother-in-law".
They use medical privacy laws to hide it. Plus the MSM won’t pursue it since they are controlled by Pharma and psych meds are a huge money maker.
Rest,assured if a vitamin or mineral conviction caused what psychotropics caused the FDA would ban them instantly. The FDA is a subsidiary of Pharma and Pharma’s protector. FDA regulators regularly go to work for Pharma after retirement.
Doesn’t matter how many laws there are because you can’t stop every crazy no matter what.
Biden and the Democrats are OK with massively arming foreign countries but grabbing guns from Americans is an obsession w/ them. The same “Congress” that gleefully tramples 2A rights, is hell bent on supplying weapons to foreign countries.
Not content w/ the mega billions already in his pocket, Zelensky now says
he wants US tax dollars to Ukraine “according to the Israeli model”......here’s what he means:
Congressional Research Service
US Foreign aid to Israel
60 page detailed report
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL33222/44
The concerned Israeli lobby made sure Congress is required by law to ensure that U.S. military aid in the Middle East region doesn’t damage Israel’s military superiority over its neighbors. That requirement enjoys broad bipartisan support and has served as a benchmark for ensuring Israel receives robust U.S. support.
Biden keeps gaslighting Americans about the “need” for
American foreign aid tax dollars to Ukraine and Israel.
Here’s why they DONT need it:
About $113.1 billion in tax dollars were authorized in 2022 for Ukraine, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Most of it–about $67.1 billion–was defense-related. The other $46 billion included:
<><>$26.9 billion for economic support;
<><>$7.9 billion for international disaster assistance;
<><>$6.6 billion in assistance for refugees;
<><>$1.5 billion for assistance for Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia;
<><>plus $3.1 billion for other non-defense spending.
US tax dollars helped Ukraine
<><>pay the salaries of 618,000 educators, 517,000 health workers, and 56,500 first responders
<><>helped sustain critical healthcare services,
<><>helped meet pension responsibilities for 9.8 million people,
<><>assisted 1.3 million internally displaced persons,
<><>provided housing assistance to 4.1 million people,
<><>provided social assistance to 240,000 low-income families
<><>helped subsidize 480,000 persons with disabilities,
<><>bought supplies for farmers,
<><>financed finding markets for small businesses.
Backstory: Since 1973 alone, Israel has received more than $120 billion US tax
dollars in MILITARY assistance alone, including “three special aid” packages.
<><>billions for signing the Israel-Egypt peace treaty
<><>billions for Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai.
<><>billions for redeployment of Israeli forces
<><>rebuilding Israeli air bases in the Negev cost $5 billion.
Besides weaponry, Israel also receives economic and humanitarian US foreign aid, which supports broad economic development and sociopolitical stability and can include non-military support related to the country’s pressing security needs.
Much military aid from US taxpayers has blanketed Israel over the years. They have more than enough resources, now, to nail Hamas and Hezbollah. Wealthy Israel has very low debt, and actually had a budget surplus this year, while the US is $33 trillion in debt, a debt which future generations are saddled with.
Iran is supplying Hezbollah with weapons, sure, but do they want to enter this war directly if they can help it? Israel knows the lay of the land there better than anyone so they must know igniting a regional war could actually threaten Israel’s very survival.
Why are some FReepers cheering that on?
Those new high tech hearing aides may have been used to direct his actions.
Did anyone confirm the video of the perp at the bowling alley matched the dead guy?
Conviction = concoction.
Ever notice that mass shootings rarely occurred before the mental hospitals were closed down in the 1970s?
Before 1970 about the only mass killings were people murdered by a man named Unruh in New Jersey. he used a Luger pistol.
The Richard Speck who murdered student nurses in Chicago, strangling and knifing them.
The Charles Whitman who murdered about 17 people in Texas. He used a slow to load bolt action hunting rifle.
Then the mental hospitals were closed and mass killings took off! Almost every person who committed a mass killing had been known to have mental problems.
Instead of reopening the mental hospitals the politicians have screamed for more Gun Control. It seems they love to have the crazies on the street rather than where they can keep them safely locked away.
Simply put...there are laws against murder everywhere these take place. How come those don’t work?
His entire family , ex-wife, son, girlfriend, brother, sister, talked to law enforcement but law enforcement did not follow through.
Brother and father said they would secure all the family’s guns. Did they not follow through, or did killer have ones they didn’t know about?
they let him go because nationwide there is a too strict standard to be able to hold them. And they have to use that standard or be sued,
Fight for better care for mentally ill, more beds and easier holds for them
Do you find it VERY ODD that psychotropic drugs are seldom, if EVER mentioned after one of these horrific shootings?
AFAIK, psychotropic drugs have been a factor in most of them!
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