cherispeaks | Because Elliot had threatened his own life and that of others in those April videos there was probable cause for 72-hour metal health hold. By all intents and purposes Elliot’s family, therapist and the ensuing mental health experts that were called all had done the right thing, but it was the Santa Barbara Sheriffs that let him slip through the cracks.
It seems clear there is
indeed plenty of documentation of Elliot’s “mental health history” and
when you combine that with the nature of the video content for which the
cops had been called, one would think the authorities would have done
more than stand outside the door chit-chatting. Had they taken his
video messages more seriously, looked into his mental health history and
entered the apartment for a safety-check they may have discovered 3
semi-automatic handguns, more than 400 rounds of ammo, knives and the
working draft of his “manifesto”. The Isla Vista Massacre by the
baby-faced killer may have never happened.
Sgt. Mark Williams of the sheriff’s office is quoted in that same Washington Post piece as saying,
“He
had some emotional trouble. He was upset. We all get upset
sometimes. . . . We have to have a pretty strong belief to take
someone’s rights away — the right to bear arms, the freedom.”
It is unclear why Sgt.
Williams mentioned a “right to bear arms” unless they had [in April] run
a check and discovered Elliot Rodger was a registered gun owner. If
they did, then why would they have been so casual after knocking on his
door?
Until the time came
that Elliot had actually used them, no one, but the shop owners who sold
them, knew Elliot had a gun…let alone 3 of them.
Are politics — personal
or otherwise, already playing a role in the investigation and aftermath
of this tragedy? Is that why Sgt. Mark Williams mentioned Elliot’s
“right to bear arms”? This writer can see no other reason why.
While the gun debate
rages on with both sides having valid points, it is still only a debate
of vitriol while in reality nothing is being done to stop gun violence
in America. The NRA, with all of their power and Lobbying money, may not
be responsible for the acts themselves, but their rigidity and
unwillingness to change is a part of what allowed Elliot Rodger to be
able to legally buy the guns that killed 4 people and injured 7 others.
