Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Once Again Ignoring The Mentally Ill Until Tragedy Occurs

It was said of the Bourbons that they had learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

The same could be said of gun controllers and those in charge of America's mental health policies.

The pattern seems to be that a clearly mentally ill person is ignored until he goes off and shoots someone, thus leading to calls for more gun bans.

The pattern almost repeated itself today as reported in The Detroit Free Press: Mt. Clemens man, 63, jailed after pointing rifle at neighbors

Note the guy's mug shot - While there's no clinically definitive appearance of crazy, if crazy had a definitive look, well, he's got it.

A Mt. Clemens man has been charged with assault after pointing a rifle at neighbors then retreating inside his home Tuesday.

Danny Harless, 63, is in the Macomb County Jail on a $300,000 bond, charged with three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, according to the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office.

The Macomb County SWAT team broke the windows on Harless’ one-bedroom apartment at Beyne and Clinton River at 11 a.m. Tuesday after he wouldn’t respond. A neighbor said Harless accused him of stealing a check, attacked him, then went in his house for a rifle that he pointed at those around him at about 8:30 a.m.

Note that this wasn't the first time this happened:

The head of the Mt. Clemens Housing Commission said the agency fruitlessly tried to evict Harless last year after a similar situation.

Yet again, the mentally ill are ignored until there's a tragedy, especially a tragedy that can be blamed on guns.

It's long past time that changed.

2 comments:

Scott said...

Hey, come on - that guy isn't responsible for this. It's Bush's fault!

Aaron said...

Nah, it's the fault of all the evil Republicans. If it wasn't for the federal government shutdown, this would never have happened....