It’s all too familiar. It’s all too tragic. And it keeps on happening. A few days ago an ex-Marine shot up a club and killed 12 people before taking his own life.
Ian Long suffered from PTSD.
He had a history of being troubled and yet he was allowed to retain his weapon.
The gunman who killed 12 people at a country music bar in California fired a bullet through the wall of his mother’s home during a volatile row in April and spent hours holed up inside until police coaxed him out but he was cleared by mental health officials and was somehow still allowed to own the Glock 45. used in Wednesday’s attack.
And that makes him like pretty much every other mass murderer. Mentally ill. The signs are almost always there and no one takes them seriously enough.
Alleged Temple of Life shooter Robert Bowers:
Police said they had five encounters with him, four of those no more serious than a traffic citation.
But in 2004, police responded to Bowers’ apartment on what they call a medical situation. The chief says he is prohibited by law to speak about the nature of that call, but sources close to the investigation say Bowers threatened to kill himself.
According to those law enforcement sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, officers responded to the potential suicide call and were able to talk Bowers out of killing himself. The same sources say Bowers agreed to voluntarily commit himself to a mental health clinic, but never followed through.
Alleged Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz left a trail of clues a mile wide:
Roughly a year before the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, school officials were warned by a student that Nikolas Cruz had mused about shooting up the school, according to a young woman’s sworn statement to police, which was released Friday.
As a result of that warning, she said in her statement, Cruz was “expelled” from the student body.
If true, it would add to a list of what critics have called a series of warning signs missed or downplayed by the Broward school district, law officers and mental health professionals, all of whom had troubling encounters with the Parkland teenager.
…
Cruz seemed jittery and disheveled, she said, with leaves in his hair. He kept looking from side to side. The girl told investigators she overheard Cruz say he was trying to find something he paid for — that it was supposed to be in the parking lot. Her boyfriend later confirmed this, telling her Cruz, who had just turned 18, claimed he had arranged to buy a gun from someone who was supposed to leave it in the bushes.
She told investigators her boyfriend and Cruz didn’t really hang out together but the two would talk and that Cruz would confide in him. About three weeks after the Walmart incident, Cruz told her boyfriend he wanted to shoot up the school, she said.
Cruz’s mental problems were well known
Crisis workers from a South Florida mental health facility were called in 2016 to hold alleged gunman Nikolas Cruz for a psychiatric evaluation after he sent out a Snapchat video in which he cut his arms and said he wanted to buy a gun, according to a mental health report.
But after speaking with Cruz, Henderson Behavioral Health health professionals chose not to hospitalize him, according to a November 2016 Florida Department of Children and Families investigative report obtained by NBC News. The department officially released the report Tuesday after NBC News published details from it.
Over a seven year period police were summoned to Cruz’s home 39 times. He telegraphed his intent to become a ” professional school shooter.”
Dylann Roof:
The alleged shooter of a South Carolina church suffers from “numerous mental disorders.”:
His lawyers cited a competency hearing in which a doctor determined Roof has “social anxiety disorder, a mixed substance abuse disorder, a schizoid personality disorder, depression by history and a possible autistic spectrum disorder.”
The disorders hamper Roof’s ability to stand trial, his lawyers contend, saying the effects include:
- difficulty processing multiple sources of information
- “excessive focus on non-essential details”
- difficulty retaining information when required to focus on multiple things
- “an extreme need for predictability and routine”
- anxiety when things can’t be predicted
- a tendency to be easily overwhelmed
His teachers wanted him to go to an alternative school for mental help.
Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock
Paddock had no known mental health disorders, but his primary care doctor told police that he believed Paddock had bipolar disorder. Paddock never wanted to discuss the topic, the doctor said.
The Las Vegas physician, who was not identified in the report, described Paddock to police as “odd” and as someone who displayed “little emotion.”
Paddock, 64, refused antidepressant medications, but he did accept prescriptions for anti-anxiety drugs. The doctor noted that “Paddock seemed fearful of medications, often refusing to take them.”
Investigators believe he had a severe undiagnosed mental illness.
Devin Patrick Kelley, who alleged killed 26 people in a Texas church escaped from a mental health facility and left many warning signs behind.
The system failed Virginia Tech shooter Seung Hui Cho:
The missing mental health records of Seung Hui Cho, released Wednesday afternoon, provide more evidence that Virginia Tech’s counseling center and the state’s mental health system failed to recognize, communicate and treat the gunman’s increasingly erratic behavior.
But the triage forms, e-mails and Post-It notes provide no window into Cho’s tortured mind.
The records indicate that Cho sought help at the university’s Cook Counseling Center three times in November and December 2005, twice on the phone and once in person. Each time, he was assessed but not treated.
On Dec. 14, 2005, the day Cho was released from a psychiatric hospital, was declared a danger for threatening to kill himself and was ordered by a judge to receive involuntary outpatient treatment at Cook, the therapist who saw him there did not evaluate his mood. Instead, she drew an “X” through the preprinted triage form.
Probably the only Tim Kaine thing with which I agree:
Just two weeks after the shootings, Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine signed an executive order that required anyone court-ordered to receive mental health treatment be added to a state database of people prohibited from buying guns.
Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza was mentally ill.
Roseburg shooter Christopher Harper Mercer was mentally ill.
Tucson shooter Jared Loughner was mentally ill.
Omar Mateen was very likely mentally ill. His wife believed him to be bipolar.
You probably notice the pattern.
I’ve been writing about this for a long time. This is what I suggested nearly six years ago:
– Find and confiscate illegally possessed weapons. That means heading into the inner cities and barrios and cleaning them out.
– Publish the names and addresses of those who illegally possess weapons (That would mean real journalism)
– Weapons must be properly secured.
– Weapons probably should not be permitted in the households in which someone is mentally ill.
– End “relief from disability” for felons
– Properly identify and treat mental illness, especially psychopathy
– Severely punish the illegal transfer of weapons
Keeping weapons out of the hands of the mentally ill is really not arguable and it might be the most doable. A mental health screening has to part of the process to obtain a weapon and that has to include PTSD. Chris Kyle was killed by a vet with PTSD.
If we want to stop the mass murders, this has to happen. It’s not the weapons.
It’s who is allowed to have them.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
But as usial the Stupid Jackass Party(Liberal Democrats)would rather blame the gun because they think Guns make people evil they beleive that humans are all good and when they get a gun they because evil because liberal democrats run on pure stupidity
“Of the 27 Deadliest Mass Shooters, 26 of Them Had One Thing in Common”
Chris also had PTSD, many vets have it.
I blame the Doctors they cleared him as not a threat, therefore it is their judgement, as they made a mistake they may be a little too cautious and we take the right to protect yourself, hunt, sport shoot from every man and woman who served in a combat zone. Oh yes Every single one is suddenly a threat, and so it begins, they give a mind altering drugs, poorly supervise the condition, the guy a regular at that bar wasnt drinking sodas, I would gather, mix booze with those pills and boom psychotic break.
Lets not look at the treatment of those that have had psychotic breaks, lets not blame the medications lets not blame the psychiatrists that brush off the ill when they say” I cant stand the side effects” and refuse prescribe something better tolerated, after all they are nutz what do they know ,I’m the one with the degree. God damn the pusherman.
Lets simply call in the gun grabbers. SMH
Why? Why attack the constitution every friggin time.
We have lots of really great laws aimed at restricting gun sales and ownership to those legally qualified. Problem is, they are not adequately enforced or respected. It still comes down to the honor system and those honorable enough to comply with the laws are NOT those the laws should be aimed at.
Another problem would be WHO would construct any such mental stability test. Beyond any question, NO anti-gun liberal should be allowed within 1,000 miles of any such restriction. Hell, they can’t even be trusted to conduct an election anymore.
Not BUY guns?
What about the guns they already have in their homes?
In Maryland anyone who feels like it can call police and claim a friend, relative or neighbor has guns but shouldn’t.
The caller is allowed to be anonymous, so gun control advocates could do all the calls they wish on the nicest people.
We don’t know who called on this man, Gary J. Willis, 60, but police pounded on his door at 5 AM.
He took a gun and answered the door only to be ordered to turn over all his guns.
Or else.
Police struggled with him and his gun went off, missing everyone.
So, police killed him.
Unless police are willing to kill any and all mentally ill people like Gary was purported to be by an anonamous caller, they will never get all guns away from real mentally ill people.
And Ronald Reagan showed that our nation lacked the commitment to keep violent mentally ill people inside mental hospitals!
@Nan G: Saw that no evaluation to determine if the man was ill, or a danger or someone just had an axe to grind. The new norm they want guilty til proven innocent, no right to prove yourself innocent. Its insane. How is this different than SWATing?
@kitt: Good point, kitt.
Functionally it is swatting, isn’t it.
If all gun owners are listed by address on public records how difficult would it be for anti-gun activists to swat all of them in Maryland?
Then police would do the nasty and disarm the people of the entire state for them.
All without due process.
@Nan G: After Vets we can ban just about everyone Psychotherapist warns that working mothers are producing mentally ill children – and claims the problem is at an ‘epidemic level’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5451309/Psychotherapist-warns-working-mothers-produce-mentally-ill-children.html
If you truly feel that mental illness is the key to gun violence, are you on board with the following ideas?
Wouldn’t these things be necessary to truly address the issue of firearm ownership by the mentally ill?
@Spurwing Plover:
Are you willing to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have guns?
@Michael:
Why stop there?
Let’s require everyone with a driver’s license, or wanting to get a driver’s license, to take a monthly blood test for alcohol and drugs. One positive test and no license for you. Fewer alcohol/drug related accidents, right?
Let’s require a license to have sex. You have to take a blood test to prove you are STD clear. If you’re not, having sex should be a offense with a lengthy jail sentence. We could then put a stop to the spread of, and deaths from, STDs.
A third party could turn you in and you would be required to prove you haven’t violated those rules. Guilty until proven innocent, right?
@Michael: The trick is how it is determined someone is unfit. I suspect the left would inject politics into the process, making the criteria as broad as possible. I’d put the NRA in charge of it. They don’t want guns in the hands of misfits and they won’t make it a mechanism to ban guns from the maximum number of citizens.
@Deplorable Me: The trick is getting you to agree to give away other peoples rights.
SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED, no fringes no tassels, no bedazzling with the ronco rhinestone and stud setter.
This issue isnt even strange, it takes an crazy person to go into a public place and start killing people, or murder anyone for that matter, now lets figure out the most deadly thing people do and ban that first gun violence isnt even close, it trails well behind medical mistakes and auto accidents . The federal government has dictated that cars must get high gas mileage the higher that mileage was pushed the less safe cars became.
There might be 2 things we think would be stupid to ban would be cars and doctors, and they are not in the constitution.
@retire05: So you’re not even paying lip service to the whole “But it’s about mental health!” talking point?
@Deplorable Me: What makes you think that the NRA cares whether or not gun owners are misfits?
@Nan G: It seems as if you’re saying that there is literally nothing to be done about gun deaths.
@Michael: How many NRA members have committed a mass shooting? I know of 1 that took a shot and stopped one.
@kitt: How is that here or there? What are you responding to?
@Michael: This post from you
NRA is all about protecting the 2nd, liberal leftists are all about destroying it.
The NRA is largely focused on programs for hunters. The purpose of the NRA is to “promote and encourage” shooting rifles with an emphasis on science and safety. The Second Amendment, part of the US Bill of Rights, concerns the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
@Michael:
@Nan G: It seems as if you’re saying that there is literally nothing to be done about gun deaths.
The press can quit sensationalizing shootings. Many more people die in traffic fatalities yet that is not sensationalized by the press.
Your solution would reduce the freedom of law abiding gun owners. But then, that is the ultimate goal, isn’t it? Once you disarm a population, slavery and genocide follows.
@kitt: None of the things you list mean that they care about misfits having guns. Why would they care?
@Michael: What Deploable was saying we would trust an org that respects and protects gun rights making the decisions rather than those that have no respect for rights. You seem to not know anything but the insane mantras from the ill informed about the NRA
@Michael: Because protecting the gun rights of the people depends on protecting the people from those who do not respect the laws. What the left hasn’t given the NRA credit for is that they respect the law, provide gun education and protect the 2nd Amendment. They’ve NEVER stood in the way of law enforcement taking guns from dangerous criminals. If there is a way to preempt a shooting, I have no doubt they would not entertain the possibility. They care far more about public safety than anyone that believes in “Gun Free Zone” signs or expecting criminals to obey gun laws and restrictions.
One thing that can be done, especially in regards to the mentally ill, is for Hollywood and the music industry would stop glorifying honor killings and political violence. Much of this is accepted for what it is by the sane among us; entertainment. But are there those who fantasize about shooting the guy that took his ho or believes the guy that doesn’t think like him is a threat to humanity? Maybe those with influence should take that into consideration.
@kitt: This is a great big “if”. I don’t agree with the concept of a mental assessment being a prerequisite for purchasing a gun, but in today’s world, there are enough warning signs to warrant such an assessment and LEGAL steps taken to ensure the safety of the public, as well as there own.
Political violence is becoming an insidious problem and those that would commit violence over THOUGHTS might very well qualify as mentally unstable… VERY unstable. In AMERICA, these people do not have those rights taken away; they willfully RELINQUISH those rights. In my opinion.
@retire05: First, your assertion about the number of people who die in automobiles each year is absolutely incorrect. 32,999 people died in autos in 2010; in the same year, 30,470 were killed by guns—not much difference at all.
Second, The press sensationalized auto deaths for years until something was done to bring the numbers down. People have worked tirelessly for decades to cut down the number of auto deaths. This effort has included government legislation, industry innovation and—notably—denying licenses to people who are deemed unfit to drive. This has led to a sharp decline in auto deaths per 100,000 people from a high of 26 in 1968 to about 11.4 in 2017. In other words, the rate of auto fatalities was cut more than fifty percent using the very methods you want to prevent being used with gun deaths.
Third: “slavery and genocide”? For crying out loud…
@Michael:
Well, one notable difference; not only does no one campaign on restricting the use of cars, they also don’t blame the CAR for the deaths.
Driving or owning a car is not a Constitutional right.
@Deplorable Me: retire05 was factually incorrect in the service of making his point. That has nothing to do with the “right vs. privilege” issue.
@Michael: It has something to do with the politicization of gun deaths vs auto deaths. Even when vehicles are used in terror attacks, the vehicle isn’t blamed, but if a gun is used, bans, regulations, restrictions are proposed.
@Michael:
Your number is bogus. You are including accidental and suicidal death by a firearm. You can ban every gun in America and people will find another way to commit suicide (drugs, poison, affixation) or die from an accident (falling off a ladder, etc.).
The concern shouted by anti-gun radicals is murder by firearm. And that is where your numbers are misleading (intentionally, I’m sure). In 2010, there were 8,775 murder by firearms committed (FBI stats). But then, there was also almost 1,800 murder by knives committed. Are you demanding that all knives be radically controlled? On 9-11-2001 almost 3,000 people were murdered by airplane. Should we have banned airplanes?
As to your auto fatality stat: Auto fatalities in 2017 was over 40,000. So like most anti-gun radicals, you quote percentages, not numbers. #MajorFail.
Russia, China, Germany? How stupid are you?
@retire05: I just think he has never been taught history and cannot put together the logical connections that first its the press, then its education, then its guns, then you work for the state. Children no longer taught how to think but what to think.
@kitt: Does Trump’s calling the press “the enemy of the people” fit into your scenario?
@Michael:
Calling out reporters who do not report unbiased news should be done. They, the fake newsters, ARE the enemy of the people. Of course, reporting fake news is nothing new for a left leaning press. One of the most blatant examples of fake news, reported to create opinion and not to inform, was Walter Cronkite reporting U.S. forces lost the Tet Offensive. Cronkite should have been tarred and feathered and run out of D.C. for that.
@retire05: You’re aware that the Tet offensive was fifty years ago, right? Fifty years. Cronkite’s been off your lawn for a long time, Gramps.
Would you please share with me things Acosta has reported that are actually untrue, rather than simply being things you don’t want to hear?
@Michael: When was it normal to have ex CIA embedded into the media? When was it even OK? Ex CIA also in record numbers running as Democrat Progressives, its like the Democrats have a huge memory hole about operation mockingbird, have they forgotten what President Kennedy said about them?
There is so much talk about an American civil war coming I say it has been waging for years. I do my best to avoid the mouth of the democrat party, ignore and look to other sources. They want to be the new victim class, not report the news,put a pillow over everything that they cant twist into anti-American propaganda. I cant say they are he enemy truly they are more the sounding brass/tinkling cymbal.
What do you learn about dignitaries and meetings that go on in the White House, from the MSM?
Oh I know that does’nt make for ratings its the latest manufactured liberal outrage that needs to be scrolled across the screen every 15 minutes 24/7.
@kitt: Would you please share with me things Acosta has reported that are actually untrue, rather than simply being things you don’t want to hear?
@Michael:
Jim Acostedher tweet in April, 2017: “WH official on hospital visit: “President Trump did not meet with Scalise and did not go into the room where Scalise is being treated.”
After it was reported that President Trump actually did go to the hospital and actually did meet with Scalise in the room where Scalise was being treated, Acosta finally admitted that he had NOT talked to any “WH official” and then deleted the tweet.
I have more.
Acosta is not a journalist. He’s a grandstander. He doesn’t want to report news so he acts like a prima donna. BTW, there is NO law, no statute, that gives reporters the right to even attend a WH presser, much less ask a question. Lincoln put reporters in jail. FDR threw more than one reporter out, all from one news agency. Obama barred the Fox News WH correspondent from AF1.
What does that have to do with the fact that reporters (most of them are not journalists) have been pushing fake news for more decades than you have been alive? Young, impressionable students in journalism school are taught the Walter School of Journalism. The goal is NOT to inform, but to create opinion. That ain’t journalism, Bubba, that’s fake news.
@retire05: Who are you under the impression is going to be wiped out in a genocide?
@retire05:
Okay. That’s one thing that he got wrong and which he corrected. (Acosta’s correction right here. Pretty secretive!)
So? Are you against press coverage of the president? What are you trying to hide?
I can’t tell whether you’re for press censorship or against it.
@Michael:
Does promoting false propaganda fit yours? He had NEVER said that. He says FAKE NEWS is the enemy of the people. Would you agree that if the media lied to the people, that would be a problem? I find that a difficult question for some to answer.
Acosta works for a company that lies on a regular basis (though he did lie about not hitting the intern’s arm), but his sin here was repeatedly asking Trump why he was calling an invasion and invasion, then refusing to stop hogging the mic and let other questions get asked.
@Deplorable Me:
Incorrect. He said that the media is the enemy, not the news:
February 17, 2017:
October 29, 2108:
You said that you had more lies to share. That’s not a lie. Focus, Gramps! Focus!
Anyway, the news media is supposed to be a pain in the ass, isn’t it? They’re not supposed to just take dictation.
@Michael: FAKE NEWS. I.E, lying. FAKE NEWS. He said FAKE NEWS. He has NEVER said “The media is the enemy of the people.” FAKE NEWS, i.e. lying, is the enemy of the people… which it most certainly is.
No, I didn’t.
Yes, the media is supposed to keep the government honest. We would all appreciate this and benefit from it (therefore, the FAKE NEWS media is our enemy). However, they failed to do this with Obama and Hillary, yet they lie (as my link showed, if you have the capability toFOCUS and open it up) and falsely attack THIS President. Beyond any doubt or possible dispute, the media is overwhelmingly liberal, biased against Republicans and Trump and working hand in hand with Democrats. Acosta is nothing but a cheerleader in that effort.
@Michael: Sorry for late response I had to go help set up deer camp, opening gun weekend coming up. Our camp is about 1.5 hours drive north of here deep in the sticks. The mis-quotes, or twisted interpretations, they keep reporting he hates immigrants, CNN in general they say he said ALL mexicans coming over illegally were rapists and criminals, adding WHITE to nationalist, Alex Jones a former leader of KKK , no sanctuary cities in the USA, goon squad to round up all the Muslims and throw them into concentration camps,that he is a racist, used racist language, the best reporting Trump got 2 scoops of icecream and everyone else got 1, petty BS droning over and over. I actually dropped cable TV to make it easier to ignore them and inflammatory inaccurate propaganda crap from ALL cable opinion shows.
He never said the MSM was the enemy of the people he said FAKE media was the enemy and with CNNs actions..if the shoe fits.
@Deplorable Me: Sorry for the misidentification. I hereby redirect my suggestion toward @retire05.
@Michael:
And Acosta admitted he lied about the “WH officer” where?
I’m against those posers who pretend to be journalists but are nothing but lying grandstanders, like Acosta, who wants to make himself the story. I am hiding nothing, so that is just another stupid question but then, I think that is the best you can do.
I’m against the FAKE NEWS media. Americans deserve better.
@retire05: What press coverage? If I want to know about the White house news I must go to whitehouse.gov or conservative review website.
@retire05: So you’ve made it clear more than once that your problem with what you have called “the FAKE NEWS media” is as much about not liking the reporters and anchors as it is about thinking that they’re lying. You’ve explained repeatedly that you don’t like his “grandstanding.”
Is it fair to say that the term “fake news” is, for you, as much about style as it is about substance?
@Michael:
Look up the word fake in a dictionary. Learn something useful.
@retire05: That’s not really an answer to the question.
@Michael: For what it’s worth, I provided a link to a list of CNN’s fake news on #38.
Add James Holms to your list. He was working on his Doctor’s in Neuroscience before he realized he was the Joker, proving that crazy is not the same as stupid. His condition was known, but legal system prevents compulsory treatment of mental illnesses – unless the person in question actually commits a crime.