The second question: What could or should have been done to prevent the tragedy?
The third question: Can anything be done to prevent future incidents like this, which are happening with greater frequency?
We have heard these questions—and more—asked after previous acts of carnage. They are never satisfactorily answered. At least they are not answered in ways that produce results capable of protecting innocent people.
Who can credibly disagree with his statement? It IS a national embarrassment, but the larger question is how to fix it?
After receiving the warning from the man’s mother, Indianapolis police placed him “on an immediate detention mental health temporary hold,” Keenan said. Clearly, he was not held long enough to get the help he needed.
When investigating FBI agents reportedly realized he held no white supremacist or other extremist beliefs did they lose interest?
The default position for the president and other progressive politicians seems to be to call for more gun control laws. They never say how a law, or laws, would deter someone with or without a mental condition and with the intent to murder from acquiring a weapon. People intent on murder will find a way, no matter how many laws are passed. The prisons are full of inmates for whom laws did not act as a deterrent.
We live in a violent culture that does not honor the sacredness of human life. From abortion to shootings in the streets of our major cities, life has become cheap and easily disposable.
If a political leader can come up with a law that will reverse the cultural rot that has diminished life’s value, I will enthusiastically endorse it. In the interim there needs to be a greater emphasis on people with mental health problems and in efforts that keep firearms from them. Strengthening laws allowing authorities to detain such people for longer periods than the Indianapolis shooter was held, while forcing them to get necessary treatment, would be a good start.
