“And about some way to keep the mentally ill from killing, no matter race, creed, or weapon.”
I believe almost ALL of these mass shootings by mentally ill people, arise from situations where other family members KNEW the person was severely ill and potentially very dangerous.
But we don’t have the mindset to turn our own family members in to authorities. Consider the Connecticut mother. Buying guns for the kid.
Anyway I think “mentally ill” people control needs more attention.
In my state there is a 72 hour lockup, under certain conditions called: “danger to self or others.””
Yet there is a more/less permanent societal danger if these people walk free and have easy access to weapons.
There is no excuse for the mother of the Connecticut (or Oregon) shooters providing guns when they know their son is mentally disturbed. (We removed weapons, but also knew that a vehicle is a weapon to one willing to use it.)
And I completely agree with your statement that in all of these incidents other family members knew the person was severely ill and potentially very dangerous.
Having been one of those family members, I can assure you that it’s much harder than you might think to get mental health treatment for someone who doesn’t want it. It literally takes a court order, obtained after having to prove that the subject is a danger to himself or others. An articulate but dangerous patient can convince a judge it’s just a family matter — actually happened to us during one attempted committment.
Even if the judge issues the order, the individual is contained and treated but released as soon as he is once again deemed safe. That is generally a short time, days or a few weeks. A patient who won’t take his meds is soon unstable and dangerous again, and the process repeats.
Been there, done that. All the while, the family members are scared for their own lives as well as for what the patient may do to others.
Fortunately, our situation never resulted in violence, but every time some violent crime is committed by a Johnson, Loughner, etc., I know that, but for the grace of God, that could be us.
Within the past year, he committed burglary and received probation, not prison, for doing so. He then violated the terms of his probation but somehow was not taken into custody for that. He should have been in PRISON, period!!!