Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Maine Gunman's Mental Health Issues More Serious Than First Disclosed
ABC News: Alleged Maine Gunman Displayed Glaring Mental Health Signals, Threatening And Violent Behavior, In Months Leading Up To Shooting
Months ahead of his bloody rampage in Lewiston last week, suspected Maine gunman Robert Card had displayed glaring signals that his mental health was on a drastic decline – signals which his immediate family members knew about, were concerned by – and explicitly warned law enforcement that something needed to be done, according to documents obtained by ABC News via records requests. ... Despite some follow-up between local police and the Army Reserves regarding Card’s apparent paranoia, verbalized threats to shoot people and recurrent aggressive behavior in recent months, the documents do not indicate that Card was ever taken into protective custody or judged mentally incompetent by a medical professional which is required to trigger Maine’s yellow flag law. (Pezenik, Courts, Simpson, Margolin, Estrada and Barr, 10/31)
The New York Times: Police Were Told Maine Gunman Had Threatened To Carry Out Shooting Spree
The warnings about Mr. Card were far more explicit than Maine officials had publicly acknowledged in the days since the shooting on Oct. 25. ... Mr. Card’s family told a sheriff’s deputy in May that Mr. Card had become angry and paranoid starting early this year. In particular, he had begun to claim — wrongly, the family said — that people were accusing him of being a pedophile. (Bogel-Burroughs and Marcius, 10/30)
The Wall Street Journal: Army Reserve Commander, Family Warned Police About Maine Gunman
Deputies were unable to locate Card and issued a missing persons report, the sheriff said, adding that deputies made contact with Card’s brother, who told him he would work to secure Robert Card’s firearms. (Vielkind and Palazzolo, 10/30)
Also —
Maine Public: Amid Numerous Warning Signs, Why Wasn't Maine's 'Yellow Flag' Law Used Before Mass Shooting?
Last week's mass shooting in Lewiston is renewing scrutiny of a 3-year-old state law that aims to keep guns away from potentially dangerous people. But it's unclear whether police considered using Maine's so-called "yellow flag" law against the suspected gunman. And critics say Maine's law could be much stronger. (Miller, 10/30)
The Washington Post: The Loophole In Efforts To Block Gun Sales To The Mentally Ill
In early August, Robert Card went to a gun store in Auburn, Maine, to finalize a purchase he had made online. According to reporting from ABC News, Card was hoping to take possession of a firearm suppressor — known more commonly as a silencer — he had bought, a purchase that necessitated completing the paperwork mandated for such a purchase by federal law. One of the forms Card filled out included yes/no questions he had to complete. One asked if he was an unlawful drug user. The next asked if he had ever been “adjudicated as a mental defective OR … ever been committed to a mental institution?” Card indicated that he had; over the summer he had spent two weeks in a facility after claiming to hear voices. (Bump, 10/30)
The Trace: Will Maine’s Permissive Gun Laws Change After Lewiston Shooting?
In Maine, which suffered the deadliest mass shooting in its history on October 25, guns are a fact of life. Nearly half of all households own one, mostly for hunting and recreation, sometimes for self-defense. The state’s gun access laws are permissive — there are no background checks on private sales, and residents don’t need a permit or training to carry a concealed gun in public. Its gun homicide rate is so low that it’s been hard to justify the need for tighter regulation. And with no history of public mass shootings to point to, this arrangement seemed to be working. (Mascia and Brownlee, 10/30)
