Massacre shows how Maine - and nation - fail to deal with violent mentally ill

[useapen]

Robert Card, suspect in the Lewiston, Maine, shootings, is a 40-year-old
Army reservist, a trained firearms instructor, and had recently reported
mental health issues including hearing voices.

Card was reported to have been committed to a mental health facility in
Maine for two weeks this summer.

This information brings up some very disturbing questions that go beyond
this awful crime:

First, why is a citizen in Maine, with a mental health history, able to
possess a firearm?

For one thing, Maine lacks a “Red Flag” law that allows people (including
families) to request that firearms be taken away from a person who has
been deemed a threat to themselves or others, as appears to have been the
case here.

As of 2023, 21 states (plus D.C.) have red flag laws.

Maine has a “Yellow flag” law which has only been used two dozen times
from 2020 to 2022 and does NOT allow family members to directly petition a
judge to order someone to give up their guns.

Only the police can issue such a request.

Furthermore, I believe it is unlikely that Robert Card was taking anti-
psychotic medication if prescribed, even after he threatened to shoot up a
National Guard base.

This is what psychiatry calls homicidal ideation with a concrete plan.

It is justification for involuntary commitment to a psychiatric facility
and it immediately raises the question of why Card was reportedly released
after only a two-week stay.

Maine is in trouble when it comes to mental health services and it is not
alone.

Mental hospitals are being closed all across the country.

As of the end of 2021, there were only 87 mental health crisis workers for
the entire state, compared with more than 2,500 law enforcement officers.

More than 2,000 patients were waiting for outpatient mental health
treatment and 32 out of 45 emergency department beds were filled with
individuals awaiting discharge for residential mental health care.

Meanwhile, more than 20 mental health residential programs in Maine had
closed that year due to a lack of staffing and inadequate financing.

Spring Harbor Hospital is the only nonprofit private psychiatric hospital
of inpatient services in Southern Maine.

Maine has only two state-run mental hospitals.

The Lewiston shootings are tragic but not isolated. This country needs
more emphasis not just on the kind of weapon used but on the person using
it and why.

Marc Siegel, MD, is a clinical professor of medicine and medical director
of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Health and a Fox News medical analyst.

https://nypost.com/2023/10/26/opinion/massacre-shows-how-maine-and-nation-
fail-to-deal-with-violent-mentally-ill/

[Mitchell Holman]

useapen <your...@outlook.com> wrote in
news:XnsB0ABDA...@135.181.20.170:

> Robert Card, suspect in the Lewiston, Maine, shootings, is a
> 40-year-old Army reservist, a trained firearms instructor, and had
> recently reported mental health issues including hearing voices.
>
> Card was reported to have been committed to a mental health facility
> in Maine for two weeks this summer.
>
> This information brings up some very disturbing questions that go
> beyond this awful crime:
>
> First, why is a citizen in Maine, with a mental health history, able
> to possess a firearm?

Trump made it easier for the mentally ill
to get guns when he rolled back Obama
regulation
Aug 6 2019

President Donald Trump responded to
the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings
by insisting Monday that “mental illness
pulls the trigger not the gun,” but
shortly after taking office he quietly
rolled back an Obama-era regulation that
would have made it harder for people with
mental illness to buy guns.

And it came after the House and Senate,
both of which were Republican-controlled
at the time, passed a bill, H.J. Res 40,
which revoked the Obama-era regulation.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Sam Johnson,
a Texas Republican who retired at the end
of 2018.
https://tinyurl.com/hp5x4pec

[Jen Prog]

>
>useapen <your...@outlook.com> wrote in
>news:XnsB0ABDA...@135.181.20.170:
>
>> Robert Card, suspect in the Lewiston, Maine, shootings, is a
>> 40-year-old Army reservist, a trained firearms instructor, and had
>> recently reported mental health issues including hearing voices.
>>
>> Card was reported to have been committed to a mental health facility
>> in Maine for two weeks this summer.
>>
>> This information brings up some very disturbing questions that go
>> beyond this awful crime:
>>
>> First, why is a citizen in Maine, with a mental health history, able
>> to possess a firearm?
>
>
>
>
>Trump made it easier for the mentally ill
>to get guns when he rolled back Obama
>regulation
>Aug 6 2019
>
>President Donald Trump responded to
>the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings
>by insisting Monday that "mental illness
>pulls the trigger not the gun," but
>shortly after taking office he quietly
>rolled back an Obama-era regulation that
>would have made it harder for people with
>mental illness to buy guns.

Trump will pay dearly when he's behind bars. They'll treat him like a
rapist.