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Colorado Springs shooting
It turns out that, not long before, the killer had threatened his mother with a bomb, causing the evacuation of a neighborhood. Yet he somehow was not arrested. As The Truth About Guns asks, what does it take to get arrested in Colorado Springs? Or, for that matter, to get a psychiatric commitment, which, like a felony conviction, would have barred him from legal firearms ownership?
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Sirs,
I have lived in Colorado Springs since 1995; it is fine community that leans to conservative and libertarian, neither my political forte but still fine people, many military and retired military. It is rapidly growing, the largest county, El Paso, in CO. It also has its problems, one of them is a shortage of "mental health" providers and hospital beds. Colorado also has a "red flag "law," which did no good in this instance. My academic background is social work, psychology, sociology, among other things, and these events cause me additional distress because all the cries of "do something" are made by people who frankly are quite naive and almost always motivated politically, although they also feel greatly for the victims. This cycle of horrendous events followed by demands for action right now --against the obvious-- has never before produced positive results. It is part of the problem, actually, and it is manipulated by both politicians and press.
So, do I know what to do about this? Well, yes, in part, but trying to tell it in this minute space is impossible. The press and politicians seem to have steadfastly ignored the options that are available in favor of sensational issues such as control of guns and control of the so-called mentally ill. First, the public needs to get over its prejudices and mythology about both of those, then it needs the right information about how to deal with criminals, and why. While getting serious offenders into prison at least accomplishes something, it has not been enough, ever, no matter how oppressive the measures, and so both parties are wrong about what can be done effectively.
I saw a local blog report that the shooter is the grandson of a state politician. No idea if this is true.