If the Republicans want to borrow a leaf from the Democrat playbook and use this tragedy to grab an issue and ride it I would suggest using this incident to publicize and reform the outrage that decades of fashionable liberal “deinstitutionalization” of the mentally ill have brought us.
Because schizophrenics can’t be committed and end up on our streets and jails America sees most of its mentally-ill citizens routinely condemned to a life in the gutter. The homeless-industrial complex and the lefty lawyers guild have seen to it. This would be one ripe, juicy tomato ready for squashing. I’d like to see the dem politician willing to take a public stand for the status quo in the face of an all-out political/PR offensive.
Then there’s this little matter of marijuana legalization. I recall reading mentions for a decade now of research proving that teenage pot use leads to a much higher rate of schizophrenia. Mark David Chapman (John Lennon R.I.P.) was also a heavy pothead as a teen. This would be another nice, heavy, paddleboard to (constructively) belabor the Left with.
Good points, but I'll be happy if the Republican just get back onto the agenda they've already established. I don't think the people who elected them are asking them to do anything about this situation, except to honor the dead and wounded.
Crazy happens. It's a fact of life on planet earth. It can't be legislated out of existence. If anything, Boehner needs to toss back any ridiculous knee-jerk bills the House Dems offer right now. He's already tossed back one.
You make some excellent points and I hope someone in our new Congress thinks of them as well.
I was shocked and disappointed when I saw today that Pete King proposed this. He’s usually so outspoken about terrorism and radical Islam that I don’t know what he was thinking here.
Anything you do to give the goverment the power to declare people mentally ill and institutionalize them will soon look like the Soviet “mental health” institutions.
Liberal “experts” are claiming that political incorrectness is insanity and you just witnessed them claim that opposition speech against them is violent and insane. They would have no problem sending you to a mental hospital to be re-educated or lobitmized.
Look what they are doing with the Patriot Act power at the airports now - nude scanning and randomly sexually molesting innocent American men, women and children. This insane abuse comes in the name of non-racism. They are building an unconstitutional KGB citizen spy organization through the power of the Patriot Act.
Our government is not trustworthy with any power over us since we no longer have the constitution being upheld in the courts. We need to restrict the power given to the government to fight terrorism so it is no longer turned against anyone outside Islamic terrorism.