@jym626, if he was saying that the CIA was planting ideas in his head LAST WEEK he should not be tossed out onto the street because he said the “right things” this week.
We’ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater.
There are laws that prevent felons from having guns but I don’t know of any that prevent a person who hasn’t been convicted of a felon from applying and being approved to buy a gun. Even if someone has been involuntarily committed, once the person is released he can once again join society, vote, make contracts, and yes, own a gun.
Doesn’t work that way, unfortunately @consolation. It was likely taken into strong consideration, but if he said “oh I realize that made no sense. I hadn’t been sleeping well but I feel much better now, thanks” or something like that, he may not meet criteria for imminent danger.
@jym626, I realize that it’s not the way things work now. That is part of what I am complaining about. I don’t think it’s because the system gives a rat’s ass about the civil rights of the individual. I think it is because they do no want to spend the money required to provide the needed services.
The racist fake news story about this yesterday has no basis in fact (of course!):
http://www.snopes.com/did-cnn-alter-esteban-santiagos-photograph/
Geez, the fake news story didn’t even use a photograph of the right man!
I just watched the CNN piece interviewing Santiago’s brother. He said that he had been having visions since his tour in Iraq. Coincidentally, the daughter of a close family friend has just finished doing a post-doc and previously did her residency specializing in post-trauma at a VA hospital. So after two years there sadly there is no funding to hire her and her expertise in this area which is sorely needed. Some of the therapy groups she was running include veterans with post-traumatic syndrome from service as far back as WWII and Korea and all wars since.
The House cut the President’s budget request for VA by $1.4B last year. Expect it to get worse.
@GnocchiB, is this the person you were talking about?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fort-lauderdale-shooting-victim-says-he-was-saved-by-his-laptop_us_587093cde4b099cdb0fd604f?dnt7p1rbz6b273nmi
One of the students in my disability studies class last semester was an Iraq vet who is getting his MSW to work with other vets.
He was a medical discharge and said the physical therapy and care he has received through the VA has been fantastic. The mental care has been atrocious. Not because the therapists are bad, just because they are overworked and underfunded.
It breaks my heart. Mental health care for vets was getting leaps and bounds better in the last several years but then funding got slashed. I think every single politician who votes to defund veterans benefits- directly or indirectly- should have to go in front of a group of vets and admit that they use the fact of their service as a political prop and truly do not give one single crap about the life behind that service.
It is always easy to say more money should be spent on worthwhile social programs. But when the budget is out of whack as it is, the difficult part is determining what gets cut. And because we cannot agree as a country on what is important, the cutting that happens is done haphazardly.
…and military adventurism and corporate welfare never get the cuts.
^ When all else fails, blame capitalism!
True capitalism wouldn’t mean political lobbying and graft.
What I glean (my opinion) from the reports about this event is that Santiago VOLUNTARILY walked into the Anchorage Police Department (or subsequently the FBI office?), began spouting dubious craziness about ISIS, and then VOLUNTARILY relinquished his gun to the local FBI. Having no criminal conviction or an official medical or judicial designation as mentally impaired, the FBI consequently returned the gun to him; they had no legal grounds to keep it. Sadly, it seems there was no way to prevent the shooting. Just like no police, prosecutor or judge have could have prevented Nancy Lanza from gifting a rifle to her deranged son.
Actually, it’s illegal to give a firearm to someone who “has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution.”
Yes, but absent an official adjudication people of who “seem off” can possess whatever firepower they desire, it seems.
I’m reading today that he was also charged for domestic violence against his girlfriend. The combination of warning signs is concerning.
Of course it would, for the political lobbying part at least. Would you have companies do nothing if they are subject to unreasonable demands? How long would those companies continue to stay profitable or even exist?
A capitalist state works best when there is a constructive friction between the demands of individuals (and groups of individuals such as unions), and the demands of the owners. The problems occur when either side gets too much power.
Yeah, but it can be hard to determine which “off” people are actually dangerous and which aren’t. I would have thought his mention of ISIS would have raised flags, but maybe the FBI is also “just so sick of people immediately saying ‘terrorism.’” Apparently more $$$ would solve the problem.
@alwaysamom Yes, he was charged with domestic abuse. But he wasn’t convicted, since "The assault case was resolved in March when Santiago entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, an alternative to adjudication where prosecutors agreed to dismiss the charges in exchange for Esteban’s completion of requirements, the details of which are unknown. " http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/06/esteban-santiago-id-d-as-airport-gunman-flew-with-gun-in-checked-luggage.html