Originally Posted by
dawg80
The Dayton shooter was mentally ill. People who knew him say he generated lists, usually girls, of people he wanted to kill. Of course, is generating a list enough for authorities to act? Someone...the police, a mental health worker, etc...might sit down and speak to such a person and try to learn why he felt the need to list people he says he wanted to kill. But up to that point he hadn't acted on it, hadn't committed any actual crime. Now, if he tried to enlist help and actually had a plan to carry out his killings that would be conspiracy to commit murder, which I believe is a crime. Still...what could "the state" do to such a person? Probably just refer him for some psychiatric screening.
Students at the Dayton shooter's school say they fully expected him to shoot-up their school! If they had reported him they would probably have been chastised for over-reacting.
Now the El Paso shooter... is "hate" a mental illness? For instance, can we say that Hitler's hatred for Jews was really a mental illness? Can someone get so caught up in hatred that they lose the ability to reason, lose all rational thought and thus slip into a state of mind where they no longer have control of themselves? Just like the good ole lefty who shot fellow Rummel Raider Rep. Steve Scalise at the baseball practice was motivated by hate; is it fair to say he was mentally ill?
If yes, then how do we (society) identify such folks and then isolate them so they cannot shoot up Walmarts or baseball games? I guarantee the ACLU and other such entities would be screaming hysterically about the violation of those people's rights. And, they would have a point.