Mass shooting in Lewiston Maine. At least 16 dead.

[Tennesseer]

Dozens injured. Multiple locations.

More news to come.

[Spellbound454]

There is a man-hunt for a 40 year old Robert Card. Armed and dangerous.

[happyhoix]

So the guy apparently had a significant mental event this summer.

Why can’t we have a rule that people struggling with mental illness are at least temporarily removed from their firearms?

[chiver78]

waking up to this news, ugh. my college roommate and her DH live in Lisbon Falls, where they found his car about a mile from their house. this feels like waking up to news that the Marathon bombers were in my old stomping grounds in a college friend's parents neighborhood.

I'm chatting with L now, she and DH are locked in at home, and armed. she's going to check in periodically today. this is nuts. 😕

[Opti]

For anyone else who has not seen this on the news, here's at least a link to a Reuters summary article.


www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/at-least-22-killed-dozens-wounded-in-maine-mass-shooting-nbc/ar-AA1iR5eK?OCID=ansmsnnews11


Reuters) -At least 22 people were killed and 50 to 60 wounded on Wednesday in mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, NBC News reported, citing a Lewiston police source.



Maine State Police and a county sheriff previously reported there had been an active shooter on Wednesday night but did not provide details.

Lewiston is part of Androscoggin County and about 35 miles (56 km) north of Maine's largest city, Portland.



The Sun Journal, citing a Lewiston police spokesperson, reported shootings at three separate businesses: Sparetime Recreation, Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant, and a Walmart distribution center.

[Opti]

Another article -

Lewiston police have identified a person of interest as Robert Card, who's still at large.



Card allegedly has a history of military service and is a firearms instructor, sources said.



The sources said he also has a mental health history, including a two-week stay this summer at a mental health facility after he allegedly made threats about carrying out a shooting at a National Guard facility.



Authorities have traced his white Subaru to a location in Lisbon, Maine, sources said, as the manhunt continues.


www.yahoo.com/news/gma/active-shooter-situation-lewiston-maine-002004508.html

[Opti]

In my quick reading of just a couple of articles and some comments to the same, I think this is a guy with a violence problem. Not sure if he really has a mental illness issue or whether he played the I'm hearing voices card to avoid jail which is how he got the two week stay after threatening to shoot up the National Guard. He has a domestic violence history with at least two women. Most domestic violence is not because of mental illness fwiw.

I'm thinking it would be not easy at all to remove all guns from a firearm instructor just like I suspect it would be difficult for scgal or her husband to surrender all their guns even temporarily if one of them did something like this. I'd suspect such people would have at least one hiding place they wouldn't tell the police about and might be hard to find in a cursory search of a home. MO.

[toomuchreality]

Oct 25, 2023 20:33:56 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Dozens injured. Multiple locations.

More news to come.

I read a very short 'article' a few minutes ago, about someplace in Maine. It pretty much said, There were lots of various types of emergency vehicles in the area. Stay in place. And they're not allowing anyone into the area, due to a major threat.
But it didn't say anything more about what type of danger people were in. Or what they were trying to protect people from, or even if anyone had been hurt.
But they made it sound like it was something big that was happening, or had happened.

I'm guessing what they were referring to was what your post is about. So sad and so awful.

[tractor]

Don't have much to add, I really struggle with these idiots targeting kids...what the hell! 😞

[toomuchreality]

There's supposed to be a media announcement, or whatever it's called, this morning at 8:30 Eastern.

I just read through a bunch of short articles that were tied together, on CNN, about this.

I read an article last night about a guy who was just putting on his bowling shoes, when the gun fire started. He said, he ran down the bowling lane, dashed into the area were the bowling pins are, then climbed up onto the machine that does the pin stuff, and waited there, until the police came in and searched the place.

When I read that article, I had no idea it had anything to do with this mass shooting.

[toomuchreality]

Per CNN:
Schools and government buildings will remain closed today. They're encouraging businesses in the area to also remain closed, if possible and for everyone to shelter in place, while they look for the guy.
They found his SUV. And they've posted pictures of it and the guy.

[djAdvocate]

Oct 26, 2023 5:52:05 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

So the guy apparently had a significant mental event this summer.

Why can’t we have a rule that people struggling with mental illness are at least temporarily removed from their firearms?

it has been federal law since 1969 or something that the mentally ill can't own firearms.  unenforced, obviously.

[chiver78]

NBC is now reporting that there's some sort of a note that investigators found at Card's home, but no specifics as to contents. 

not to propagate misinformation, but I also want to point out that there was a supposed sighting of him entering MA in a stolen vehicle this am. **this has since been disproven.**

I haven't spoken with L since this morning, but I sent her a check-in note on FB and noticed that the app said she was active in the last half hour. I'll leave her be and just check in again if I don't see anything from her at all by tomorrow. 

[Tennesseer]

One CNN reporter said he heard authorities discussing a possible motive.  The shooter's girlfriend recently broke up with him and the restaurant and bowling alley were two places they enjoyed as a couple going to.

[Opti]

Oct 26, 2023 16:43:41 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

One CNN reporter said he heard authorities discussing a possible motive.  The shooter's girlfriend recently broke up with him and the restaurant and bowling alley were two places they enjoyed as a couple going to.

Some men can go crazy over breakups or divorces. I haven't read much more on this except some survivor accounts including the guy who hid in the pin machine. Another spoke of a man who flipped over tables etc. to make a barricade around him and other people nearby.

[chiver78]

I'm posting from my phone, so may need to edit with the link 

but, fuck. enough already. sadly, I know. if Sandy Hook didn't move the line in the sand with 20 dead 6yos, nothing ever will. 🥀

[toomuchreality]

Oct 26, 2023 18:07:09 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

I'm posting from my phone, so may need to edit with the link 

but, fuck. enough already. sadly, I know. if Sandy Hook didn't move the line in the sand with 20 dead 6yos, nothing ever will. 🥀

So sad. 🥀 And it just keeps happening.

[Tennesseer]

Oct 26, 2023 18:07:09 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

I'm posting from my phone, so may need to edit with the link 

but, fuck. enough already. sadly, I know. if Sandy Hook didn't move the line in the sand with 20 dead 6yos, nothing ever will. 🥀

Thoughts and prayers. Just thoughts and prayers.

“Call on God, but row away from the rocks.”

― Hunter S. Thompson

[chiver78]

I've mentioned before around the board, but the guys from The Alternate Routes are actually friends of mine. this song was written by an amazing musician, about the murder of both his parents in Fairfield, CT. 🥀💗 we are really past the point of any single instance of gun violence being the impetus to change anything. and I hate that, so much. but I'm just one voice.

[toomuchreality]

Oct 26, 2023 19:54:55 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

I've mentioned before around the board, but the guys from The Alternate Routes are actually friends of mine. this song was written by an amazing musician, about the murder of both his parents in Fairfield, CT. 🥀💗 we are really past the point of any single instance of gun violence being the impetus to change anything. and I hate that, so much. but I'm just one voice.

It is a very good song. And well done, IMO. You have some great connections in the music world. Or so it seems, to me.

[countrygirl2]

There will be copycats again, seems like there always are.

[happyhoix]

Shooters SIL is saying he got new hearing aids this year and started reporting that he heard people talking about him.

His family tried to convince him the voices where in his head but he refused to believe them and had a rapid mental decline,

New House speaker says its important for private citizens to be able to carry weapons so the can defend themselves from mentally ill people like this.

OR we could do a better job keeping assault weapons out of the hands of mentally ill people and also - treat the mentally I’ll so they can be contributing members of society and not terrify monsters.

[happyhoix]

This reminds me of a woman at my church whose mentally ill sister had moved in with her 80 year old mother and disrupting her life. The family intervenes, gets the sister transported to a mental health hospital, they will only hold her 72 hours.

The hospital calls trying to get a family member to come pick her up, they refuse. So the cops take her back home and she immediately goes back to being abusive to Mom, who is scared of her.

The problem is sister has no job, no job no insurance no treatment. Family can’t afford treatment for her. Thought we were the richest country in the world with the best health care. 😡

[scgal]

Oct 26, 2023 10:20:07 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Oct 26, 2023 5:52:05 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

So the guy apparently had a significant mental event this summer.

Why can’t we have a rule that people struggling with mental illness are at least temporarily removed from their firearms?

it has been federal law since 1969 or something that the mentally ill can't own firearms.  unenforced, obviously.

I don't know the exact situation here. How do you effectively enforce it. I'm talking about after the fact. Say a person bought a gun or several had them for years then has mental issues. How to you take away the guns? I can see maybe on the front end before buying a firearm even then it would be nearly impossible to do with hippa laws. 

[djAdvocate]

Oct 27, 2023 7:16:34 GMT -5 scgal said:

Oct 26, 2023 10:20:07 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

it has been federal law since 1969 or something that the mentally ill can't own firearms.  unenforced, obviously.

I don't know the exact situation here. How do you effectively enforce it. I'm talking about after the fact. Say a person bought a gun or several had them for years then has mental issues. How to you take away the guns? I can see maybe on the front end before buying a firearm even then it would be nearly impossible to do with hippa laws. 

you would have to have law enforcement working with mental health agencies, which is OBVIOUSLY problematic.

but here is my response to every suggestion that something is "hard".  going into space and planting a US flag on the moon was hard.  we did it, because there was a national commitment to doing it.

ergo......

[dondubble]

Oct 27, 2023 7:16:34 GMT -5 scgal said:

Oct 26, 2023 10:20:07 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

it has been federal law since 1969 or something that the mentally ill can't own firearms.  unenforced, obviously.

I don't know the exact situation here. How do you effectively enforce it. I'm talking about after the fact. Say a person bought a gun or several had them for years then has mental issues. How to you take away the guns? I can see maybe on the front end before buying a firearm even then it would be nearly impossible to do with hippa laws. 

Red flag laws which they don’t have in Maine.

[Tennesseer]

Oct 27, 2023 11:55:28 GMT -5 dondubble said:

Oct 27, 2023 7:16:34 GMT -5 scgal said:

I don't know the exact situation here. How do you effectively enforce it. I'm talking about after the fact. Say a person bought a gun or several had them for years then has mental issues. How to you take away the guns? I can see maybe on the front end before buying a firearm even then it would be nearly impossible to do with hippa laws. 

Red flag laws which they don’t have in Maine.

Cowardly Maine only had a Yellow Flag law and it failed the citizens of Maine. Bigly.

[Tennesseer]

Oct 27, 2023 7:16:34 GMT -5 scgal said:

Oct 26, 2023 10:20:07 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

it has been federal law since 1969 or something that the mentally ill can't own firearms.  unenforced, obviously.

I don't know the exact situation here. How do you effectively enforce it. I'm talking about after the fact. Say a person bought a gun or several had them for years then has mental issues. How to you take away the guns? I can see maybe on the front end before buying a firearm even then it would be nearly impossible to do with hippa laws. 

The state gets permission from a judge and if need be, enters the home and take the firearms away.

HIPAA Privacy Rule Modified for Gun Background Checks

A modification to the HIPAA Privacy Rule designed to help identify those who are prohibited, for specific mental health reasons, from having a firearm will have little impact on most healthcare providers because it's so narrow in scope.

The change, which is slated to take effect next month, permits only a small subset of HIPAA covered entities to disclose to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System the identities of individuals who are already prohibited by federal law from having a firearm.

"Specifically, this final rule gives states improved flexibility to ensure accurate but limited information is reported to the NICS," said Jocelyn Samuels, director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights in an announcement about the change posted on the HHS website.

NICS is the federal database that stores information about individuals prohibited by law from possessing firearms. Those include felons, those convicted of domestic violence and individuals involuntarily committed to a mental institution or found to be a danger to themselves or others, or unable to manage their affairs due to a mental health condition, according to HHS.

The final rule modification is slated to be printed on Jan. 6 in the Federal Register. The rule change takes effect on Feb. 5.

Gun Control Measures
The modification to the HIPAA Privacy Rule comes as President Obama on Jan. 5 announced a series of executive actions in an effort to reduce gun violence. The actions are designed to make more gun sales subject to background checks and beef up enforcement of existing laws.

Rest of article here: HIPAA Privacy Rule Modified for Gun Background Checks

[Tennesseer]

Oct 27, 2023 7:16:34 GMT -5 scgal said:

Oct 26, 2023 10:20:07 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

it has been federal law since 1969 or something that the mentally ill can't own firearms.  unenforced, obviously.

I don't know the exact situation here. How do you effectively enforce it. I'm talking about after the fact. Say a person bought a gun or several had them for years then has mental issues. How to you take away the guns? I can see maybe on the front end before buying a firearm even then it would be nearly impossible to do with hippa laws. 

HIPAA and Gun Violence Prevention DECEMBER 21, 2021

[djAdvocate]

yep.  that is the conflict.

you want to paint an ironic circle around it?

consider how privacy laws were disregarded in the SCOTUS decision regarding RvW.