The invisible shield that has always protected the people of Maine from the insanity of modern American life has been pierced by the semi-automatic gunfire of a schizophrenic, military-trained monster.
One of our own, a man who for two decades was a protector in the U.S. Army Reserves, has visited incomprehensible and inhuman violence upon places known for joy, and people known for love.
For years, Mainers have looked aghast at acts of domestic terrorism elsewhere and comforted ourselves with the thought that Maine is different, safer, that kind of thing doesn’t happen here.
But now, sadly, our eighteen murdered friends and neighbors have become a wakeup call that our home is not immune from such brutal evil. What are we to do?
The inclination to think that some yet-unpassed law would have stopped this evil is understandable. We’ve already seen plenty of crass and self-serving statements from politicians who say the solution is to reduce or diminish the rights of all Mainers.
Mere weeks after the terrorism in Israel provided a vivid reminder that yes, in fact, there is a good reason why law abiding citizens would want to own so-called assault rifles with large capacity magazines, some politicians have concluded that those tools are the real problem.
This renewed cry for a purported policy panacea comes just a few years after Maine adopted legislation that even the left-wing Maine Public described as a “potential national model for keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous or suicidal individuals.”
So what happened? How did we adopt legislation heralded by gun control advocates only to find ourselves reeling in the aftermath of the worst mass shooting in Maine history?
The answer seems to be that the vaunted new law — the Yellow Flag Law — wasn’t used.
That’s confusing, because Robert Card is precisely the type of person you would expect to see such a law used against.
Under Maine’s yellow flag law, police officers who determine that an individual is a threat to himself or others can temporarily remove firearms from the custody of that individual.
This is entirely relevant to Card’s situation because law enforcement knew, beyond a shadow of doubt, that Card was a threat to society.
Hours after the shooting, the information arm of the Maine State Police released a memo that revealed Card was known to Maine law enforcement as a threat.
The information in that memo stemmed from a July incident in which Card showed signs of potentially violent schizophrenia.
Card’s behavior was so alarming that Army brass at West Point, where the Army reservist was for training, had him sent to the Keller Army Community Hospital, where he was sectioned at a military psychiatric ward for two weeks.
That’s a long stint in a padded room — a stint Card apparently earned by claiming that he was hearing voices in his head telling him to attack a military facility in Saco.
Is there any clearer case of when the yellow flag law ought to have been used?
Yet no attempt was made to ensure Card had no access to tools that can equally be used for protection or evil, depending on their operator’s state of mind.
So the key questions seem to be: Why was Card released from Keller after two weeks? What details of that episode were transmitted to Maine law enforcement? When? To whom? Why was nothing done?
We know that the Maine State Police knew about Card’s instability and threats of violence, so who made the decision not to use Maine’s vaunted gun control law? And did they make that decision to protect a friend’s military career?
Pinpoint questions which will likely go unanswered.
Thorough and thoughtful, Steve.
Thanks to the MeWire for airing these questions. I had been thinking that Maine authorities were never informed of his psychotic break at West Point, where he would have been on active duty orders. The local Army reserve command also has some questions to answer. Was he deemed unqualified for active duty locally and were further evaluations or disposition initiated? Were all reasonable, or mandated, efforts made to notify Maine authorities? On the DoD side, it would be alarming if he still had access to firearms as part of his duties while on weekend drill status after his hospitalization. And in the Maine yellow flag law, are there provisions for mandatory reporting by health care personnel, as there is for suspected child abuse?
Anything said at this point is said mostly through emotion, even your article, Steve. We need to have some time pass, get through this and THEN set up a small team to study this and other mass murders, no matter which tools were used. Determine what happened through his/their lives/life that triggered this. Determine what was done and why it did not work. There are way too many questions to be answered to even start thinking of changing things at this time. AND-Do NOT get politicians to do this work! The family members of people like Robert are likely members of the team, a police chief or other police officer that has dealt with these issues, a CAREFULLY selected individual from a mental care institute (probably NOT a psychiatrist), a community member that knew the individual quite well, and a couple more – to be determined. NOW, carefully determine where we have gone wrong in the past and what to do to mitigate the damages in the future. IT DOES NOT take a PHD to make these decisions—–
It is so very easy to be a Monday morning quarterback and live in the land of “what if?” but that’s not how life works. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people and more proposed gun laws wouldn’t have stopped this fiasco either. It is doubtful that mental health treatment would have been sufficient to have avoided this tragedy but having mental health facilities for in-patient treatment with longer care options might have prevented this, sadly with all the speculation we will never really have the “right” answer.
B I NGO B I NGO BINGO AND BINGO WAS HIS N A M E O !!
Now the cover-up will begin and so many will say, “not my job.” However that inert lump of steel called a gun will get full attention and the yellow flag, gun free zones and similar liberal ideas wil go free.
…the very entities that push for these ‘yellow flag’ laws, are the very ones who always seem to drop the ball in enforcing them. God forbid we now jump to ‘red flag’ laws…where anyone can claim their spouses are nut cases and the powers that be can arrest the low hanging fruit and take anyone’s weapons without abandon. That would take law enforcement off the hook for not enforcing their own yellow flags!
Maine has a concealed carry law and it wouldn’t be a surprise if more people started to avail themselves of it. Complacency to Maine’s serene way of life has been broken. Police cannot protect you. Buy a gun, practice to shoot it and ammo up.
Since we prove incapable (or unwilling?) to enforce the laws we have, passing more and more restrictive ones would prove fruitless.
As sad as it sounds (and it is sad), it is better that Robert Card is dead now. When he asked for help, quite clearly, when he was alive, he received none. Had he been captured alive, he would have received none anyway, and would have lived on in mental torment. I’m praying for his soul.
Why didn’t the military report his condition to the appropriate authorities to prevent him from having access to guns. Why didn’t the police act under the yellow flag law? It’s still early in the investigation but it appears that this was completely preventable based on existing laws. The idea that more laws are needed seems absurd based on what we now know. Any reaction needs to be carefully thought out and not a quick knee jerk reaction. The issue is clearly mental illness not the inanimate object called a gun.
Incredible to see a local GOP article upset about the lack of enforcement, over the same gun laws they have spent years whining about and fighting tooth and nail against. Mental illness and guns are a bad mix, but fighting against background checks or additional laws that prevent this is only going to make it worse. Or don’t fix it and people will keep dying. Don’t fix it and the cops can keep tracking more seasoned marksman in the woods with tactical night gear and voices they are hearing.