Leroy N. Soetoro
2023-10-29 20:10:48 UTC
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/10/27/politics/accused-shooters-
mental-health-yellow-flag-law/
The suspect in the Lewiston mass shootings had a mental health evaluation
this past summer in New York, but that alone would not have triggered a
Maine law restricting his access to guns.
Maines yellow flag law, enacted in 2020, created a process by which
police can temporarily confiscate guns from someone deemed to be a threat
to themselves or others. The process involves police taking someone into
protective custody, and then getting a medical professional and a judge to
agree that the person poses a threat to either themselves or others.
The question of whether Maines yellow flag law could have prevented
Wednesdays rampage has been raised by politicians, including U.S. Sen.
Susan Collins, in the past two days. Those in charge of the response have
skirted the topic, focusing on the victims and the ongoing manhunt for the
suspect, 40-year-old Robert R. Card II of Bowdoin.
It was unclear Friday whether police in Maine had been asked after Maines
law went into effect in July 2020 to respond to complaints of Card being a
threat to himself or others. But the New York events would never have
triggered the law because the suspect was put into protective custody out
of state and was evaluated out of state.
Under Maines law, people cannot directly petition the courts in Maine to
confiscate a relatives firearms. Lack of agreement from a medical
professional prevents police from taking action. If a judge grants the
prohibitions, the person is banned from possessing and buying weapons for
up to a year. A district attorney can request an extension for up to an
additional year.
Card, the suspect in the shootings that killed 18 people and wounded 13
more, spent about two weeks in July getting inpatient psychiatric
treatment in New York, media outlets have reported. The Army reservist was
with his unit at West Point when he began behaving erratically and was
taken by New York State Police to Keller Army Community Hospital, an
official told NBC News.
Maine State Police issued a bulletin on Wednesday saying that Card had
recently been hearing voices and making threats to shoot up a National
Guard base in Saco, but it was unclear whether he was in New York when
those concerns came to light.
Cards sister in law on Thursday told The Daily Beast that Cards mental
health seemed to deteriorate in the past year, after he began wearing
hearing aids. He seemed to become more paranoid, saying that the hearing
aids enabled him to hear others bashing him, Katie Card said.
This all just happened within the last few months, she told The Daily
Beast.
Katie Card did not respond Friday to a question from the Bangor Daily News
about whether the family knew if police had been in contact with Card
since July 2020.
Prior to Wednesdays shooting, Card seems to have generated scant interest
from police or the courts in Maine. He has a 2007 conviction for drunken
driving and a couple of misdemeanor traffic infractions in Penobscot
County from the early 2000s, when he was a student at University of Maine
in Orono.
The only other public court records on file from Sagadahoc County, where
Card lives, were monetary claims filed against Card in 2013 and 2014, and
documents related to his 2007 divorce from his ex-wife.
Any additional documents in the cases could not be obtained because they
are in paper files and the courts were closed Thursday and Friday under a
shelter-in-place order, Barbara Cardone, a spokesperson for Maines
judicial system, said. No federal criminal records could be found in Maine
or New York, where Card was held in July for in-patient treatment.
Despite this, several political figures have raised the question of
whether the Maine law failed to stop the suspect from accessing a gun,
including Collins, a Republican who responded to questions at a Thursday
news conference by saying it looked like the law should have kicked in.
It certainly seems that on the basis of the facts that we have, that the
yellow flag law should have been triggered if in fact the suspect was
hospitalized for two weeks, she said.
The Maine law is more limited than red flag laws in other states, which
allow family members and police to petition courts without a
recommendation from a medical professional to confiscate guns from
people believed to pose a danger to themselves or others.
There are no federal red or yellow flag laws. A 2022 law signed by
President Joe Biden included incentives for states to implement laws that
allow for groups to petition for weapons to be removed from people who are
a threat to themselves or other people, NPR reported.
Once a person is notified by police that they are going to have to go
through the process, a district attorneys office has five days to file
the motion in court, Penobscot County Assistant District Attorney Alice
Clifford said. A hearing must be held within 14 days after the motion is
filed, per the law.
Most cases resolve through an agreement before it reaches the hearing,
with a person agreeing to give up their guns for a year, Clifford said.
These things happen when theres a pretty dire situation and they see the
writing on the wall, Clifford said.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
mental-health-yellow-flag-law/
The suspect in the Lewiston mass shootings had a mental health evaluation
this past summer in New York, but that alone would not have triggered a
Maine law restricting his access to guns.
Maines yellow flag law, enacted in 2020, created a process by which
police can temporarily confiscate guns from someone deemed to be a threat
to themselves or others. The process involves police taking someone into
protective custody, and then getting a medical professional and a judge to
agree that the person poses a threat to either themselves or others.
The question of whether Maines yellow flag law could have prevented
Wednesdays rampage has been raised by politicians, including U.S. Sen.
Susan Collins, in the past two days. Those in charge of the response have
skirted the topic, focusing on the victims and the ongoing manhunt for the
suspect, 40-year-old Robert R. Card II of Bowdoin.
It was unclear Friday whether police in Maine had been asked after Maines
law went into effect in July 2020 to respond to complaints of Card being a
threat to himself or others. But the New York events would never have
triggered the law because the suspect was put into protective custody out
of state and was evaluated out of state.
Under Maines law, people cannot directly petition the courts in Maine to
confiscate a relatives firearms. Lack of agreement from a medical
professional prevents police from taking action. If a judge grants the
prohibitions, the person is banned from possessing and buying weapons for
up to a year. A district attorney can request an extension for up to an
additional year.
Card, the suspect in the shootings that killed 18 people and wounded 13
more, spent about two weeks in July getting inpatient psychiatric
treatment in New York, media outlets have reported. The Army reservist was
with his unit at West Point when he began behaving erratically and was
taken by New York State Police to Keller Army Community Hospital, an
official told NBC News.
Maine State Police issued a bulletin on Wednesday saying that Card had
recently been hearing voices and making threats to shoot up a National
Guard base in Saco, but it was unclear whether he was in New York when
those concerns came to light.
Cards sister in law on Thursday told The Daily Beast that Cards mental
health seemed to deteriorate in the past year, after he began wearing
hearing aids. He seemed to become more paranoid, saying that the hearing
aids enabled him to hear others bashing him, Katie Card said.
This all just happened within the last few months, she told The Daily
Beast.
Katie Card did not respond Friday to a question from the Bangor Daily News
about whether the family knew if police had been in contact with Card
since July 2020.
Prior to Wednesdays shooting, Card seems to have generated scant interest
from police or the courts in Maine. He has a 2007 conviction for drunken
driving and a couple of misdemeanor traffic infractions in Penobscot
County from the early 2000s, when he was a student at University of Maine
in Orono.
The only other public court records on file from Sagadahoc County, where
Card lives, were monetary claims filed against Card in 2013 and 2014, and
documents related to his 2007 divorce from his ex-wife.
Any additional documents in the cases could not be obtained because they
are in paper files and the courts were closed Thursday and Friday under a
shelter-in-place order, Barbara Cardone, a spokesperson for Maines
judicial system, said. No federal criminal records could be found in Maine
or New York, where Card was held in July for in-patient treatment.
Despite this, several political figures have raised the question of
whether the Maine law failed to stop the suspect from accessing a gun,
including Collins, a Republican who responded to questions at a Thursday
news conference by saying it looked like the law should have kicked in.
It certainly seems that on the basis of the facts that we have, that the
yellow flag law should have been triggered if in fact the suspect was
hospitalized for two weeks, she said.
The Maine law is more limited than red flag laws in other states, which
allow family members and police to petition courts without a
recommendation from a medical professional to confiscate guns from
people believed to pose a danger to themselves or others.
There are no federal red or yellow flag laws. A 2022 law signed by
President Joe Biden included incentives for states to implement laws that
allow for groups to petition for weapons to be removed from people who are
a threat to themselves or other people, NPR reported.
Once a person is notified by police that they are going to have to go
through the process, a district attorneys office has five days to file
the motion in court, Penobscot County Assistant District Attorney Alice
Clifford said. A hearing must be held within 14 days after the motion is
filed, per the law.
Most cases resolve through an agreement before it reaches the hearing,
with a person agreeing to give up their guns for a year, Clifford said.
These things happen when theres a pretty dire situation and they see the
writing on the wall, Clifford said.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.