We've got to do a better job helping people with mental illness ... and protecting their children when called for.

Man it's just heartbreaking ...

for the young ones ...

I saw the report too. Shit...

After her diagnosis?

I am in tears.

It takes a ruling by a judge. A person who owns a gun can seek help for mental conditions without surrendering rights.

But, those children did not have the right to keep breath and blood inside their bodies.

I've worked with seriously mentally ill clients for years.
Before 1974, if you put a mentally ill person in a psych. hospital, it was almost impossible for them to be released again. That system was abused for decades by manipulative family members, btw.

Post 1974, a lawsuit that originated here in Alabama of all places, challenged that practice, and shortly after, people started getting discharged.
( Stickney vs. Wyatt)

The plan was they would be discharged to community MH centers.
the reality was that Nixon/ford/republican Congress did not fund the MH system to provide the followup.
( I know this because I was working in community MH in Seattle during the 70's)

Now, legally, if a person is not a Current/Immediate danger to self and others, you cannot confine them. If they are assessed as a threat, you can lock them up for 72 hours and maybe give them a shot of pysch. meds, but after that, unless they are actively obviously nuts, they have to be released.
And, it is very very common for severely mentally ill people to stop taking their meds, and stop coming to see their MH therapist who has been tracking their progress. All MH can do is call the client to encourage them to come in for a visit, and hopefully start the meds again.
After a few days to weeks, their symptoms return.
Often they can hide this fact for some time. We usually find out about it when a family member notices something and calls.
But too often, the police are called instead and that ends badly, esp. for minority clients, and sometimes for innocent people.
Add street drugs to the mix, which happens a lot, and nothing but bad results.

Experienced therapists and family members can predict what will happen, but there is nothing in the system now that I know of to allow locking up anyone for what they might do.
Cal. has a law that professional mandatory reporters. like MH staff/cops/ private Dr.s HAVE to report their concerns in a case like this, but nothing comes of that, it is just an ass covering procedure, a feel good law with no teeth.

There just isn’t enough mental health services here. The ones we do have are swamped and many have waiting lists- and the rural areas of our state are especially hard to get help in. Our Community Mental s Health service people try very hard, but there just aren’t enough resources to service demand.

To make matters worse, modern society just seems to drive people even more insane than ever before.

This is my generic response to gun threads where people are shot and killed by the dumb or criminal possession of guns. For the record, I grew up in the South and on military bases. I was taught about firearms as a child, and I grew up hunting, was a member of the NRA, and I still own guns. In the 70’s, I dropped out of the NRA because they become more radical and less interested in safety and training. Some personal experiences where people I know were involved in shootings caused me to realize that anyone could obtain and posses a gun no matter how illogical it was for them to have a gun. Also, easy access to more powerful guns, guns in the hands of children, and guns that weren’t secured are out of control in our society. As such, here’s what I now think ought to be the requirements to possess a gun. I’m not debating the legal language, I just think it’s the reasonable way to stop the shootings. Notice, none of this restricts the type of guns sold. This is aimed at the people who shoot others, because it’s clear that they should never have had a gun.

1.) Anyone in possession of a gun (whether they own it or not) should have a regularly renewed license. If you want to call it a permit, certificate, or something else that's fine.
2.) To get a license, you should have a background check, and be examined by a professional for emotional and mental stability appropriate for gun possession. It might be appropriate to require that examination to be accompanied by references from family, friends, employers, etc. This check is not to subject you to a mental health diagnosis, just check on your superficial and apparent gun-worthyness.
3.) To get the license, you should be required to take a safety course and pass a test appropriate to the type of gun you want to use.
4.) To get a license, you should be over 21. Under 21, you could only use a gun under direct supervision of a licensed person and after obtaining a learner’s license. Your license might be restricted if you have children or criminals or other unsafe people living in your home. (If you want to argue 18 or 25 or some other age, fine. 21 makes sense to me.)
5.) If you possess a gun, you would have to carry a liability insurance policy specifically for gun ownership - and likely you would have to provide proof of appropriate storage, security, and whatever statistical reasons that emerge that would drive the costs and ability to get insurance.
6.) You could not purchase a gun or ammunition without a license, and purchases would have a waiting period.
7.) If you possess a gun without a license, you go to jail, the gun is impounded, and a judge will have to let you go (just like a DUI).
8.) No one should carry an unsecured gun (except in a locked case, unloaded) when outside of home. Guns should be secure when transporting to a shooting event without demonstrating a special need. Their license should indicate training and special carry circumstances beyond recreational shooting (security guard, etc.). If you are carrying your gun while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you lose your gun and license.
9.) If you buy, sell, give away, or inherit a gun, your license information should be recorded.
10.) If you accidentally discharge your gun, commit a crime, get referred by a mental health professional, are served a restraining order, etc., you should lose your license and guns until reinstated by a serious relicensing process.

Most of you know that a license is no big deal. Besides a driver’s license you need a license to fish, operate a boat, or many other activities. I realize these differ by state, but that is not a reason to let anyone without a bit of sense pack a semiautomatic weapon in public, on the roads, and in schools. I think we need to make it much harder for some people to have guns.

This is one of those times.

...as the price of their freedoms.

FUCK THAT SHIT

When I hear them justify their hobby, I picture my daughter rehearsing her own death in grade school to protect their giant collection of phallic over compensation, or the blood from this kind of shooting that must be allowed to protect their right to a pocket cock nozzle. Fact is, every gun death starts out with a gun from somewhere. Responsible gun ownership simply isn't responsible. We've tried it. Curtailing the supply sounds all right by me. Defending that supply feels like aiding and abetting to me.

More than 33,000 dead a year due to firearms. (based on 2013 data) Not outraged yet, wait 16 minutes and there will be another. BANG! Bang. bang, three more on your commute. bangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbang... There are a dozen by lunchtime. But wait 48 school hours and, on average, we'll have another school shooting. (based on data for 2018) Those kids love to light that shit up like the Fourth of July.

Hey gun owner, that's the sound of your freedom ringing.

...as the price of their freedoms.

FUCK THAT SHIT

When I hear them justify their hobby, I picture my daughter rehearsing her own death in grade school to protect their giant collection of phallic over compensation, or the blood from this kind of shooting that must be allowed to protect their right to a pocket cock nozzle. Fact is, every gun death starts out with a gun from somewhere. Responsible gun ownership simply isn't responsible. We've tried it. Curtailing the supply sounds all right by me. Defending that supply feels like aiding and abetting to me.

More than 33,000 dead a year due to firearms. (based on 2013 data) Not outraged yet, wait 16 minutes and there will be another. BANG! Bang. bang, three more on your commute. bangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangbang... There are a dozen by lunchtime. But wait 48 school hours and, on average, we'll have another school shooting. (based on data for 2018) Those kids love to light that shit up like the Fourth of July.

Hey gun owner, that's the sound of your freedom ringing.

The absence of words about Alaina ...who were you, littlest angel? Too young to have left a memory behind with classmates? Only known to family members, perhaps?