The guys was committed for two weeks and had threatened to shoot up a national guard base. They had the information to act on and take away his guns and they didn't because they didn't need to. This is even more fucked because it was probably avoidable.

[–] NevermindNoMind@lemmy.world 51 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There are no red flag laws in Maine. There was no legal way to take his guns even if they thought that was necessary. Also, the christofacist supreme court is set to strike down laws that prevent people convicted domestic violence from owning guns, which will chip away at the legality of red flag laws everywhere. Happy Thursday everyone!

[–] _dev_null@lemmy.zxcvn.xyz 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

If he was a reservist, I'm pretty sure his commander could've ordered him to surrender his weapons.

And the bar under the UCMJ to do deal with a suicidal/homicidal troop is way lower than what it is for a civilian.

[–] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee -4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

He was a weapons instructor

[–] Schmuppes@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So?

[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

People get wrapped around the axle about this. If you don't know the military doesn't turn you into John Wick. Most people in the military have never been issued a gun outside of qual, but all are given a bare minimum level of training just in case things got dire.

Annual (if that) weapons training is basically "don't tk your buddies" a bit of shooting to prove you can and cleaning after. You only get more if direct combat is your actual job, or will be soon.

Just like anything else if you want to get good you have to put in some effort on your own time.

[–] Schmuppes@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I read your reply as "He was a weapons instructor and therefore cannot burn a fuse and go on a psychotic rampage". I believe that is what the exchange was about before you replied. The question people are asking is "Why did he have guns" and not "How was he trained to use them".

[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

That's not what I'm saying. He had a pretty good "why" for having easy access to weapons until he was checked into a mental institution. If he was a danger to himself or others I bet they could have prevented him from getting weapons. I'm interested to see why they chose not to or how their attempts failed.

I admit it was a deviation from the subject and might have been confusing. Every time this guy's background is brought up people tend to think military training is some forbidden knowledge that citizens don't have access to, which isn't the case at all.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 42 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Almost all mass shootings were avoidable if that government really cared about solving this problem

[–] BigBlackCockroach@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

They do care, just not as much as they care about those sweet NRA and Colt checks 😩