A tragedy averted? I sure hope so.
Today in Denver, 44 year old John Troy Davis was arrested with making threats to shoot staff members and set fire to the offices of Democratic Senator Michael Bennet. This most recent threat was received last Thursday, when Davis called the Senator's office and said:
"I'm just going to come down there and shoot you all." Davis called again and spoke to another staffer, this time saying: "To get your attention, I will go down there and set fire to the perimeter."
John Troy Davis was what I would be the Senator's staffers would call a 'frequent flier'- someone who regularly called or visited the office to scream at staff members, or rant at anyone who would listen. Because for these people, it's the attention that's important, not the resolution of the problem they're complaining about.
From HuffPo:
Staffers told investigators Davis was upset about not having a hearing about his benefits, although Davis failed to attend a hearing arranged by Bennet's office.
He faces a federal charge of threatening a Federal employee plus a $250K fine.
UPDATE: You can see his mugshot and read the felony complaint at The Smoking Gun.
The continuing theme? Mental Illness.
At one point, according to the document, Davis told a Bennet staffer that he is schizophrenic and needs help and that he "may go to terrorism."
The system has failed- and Americans can no longer ignore what began when Reagan dismantled what little mental health system we had back in the 80's. We must do something today. Because if we don't, we're going to see more of this.
Just look at what's happened in the last week alone, in addition to the tragedy in Tuscon and the averted tragedy in Denver:
Donald Edward Hatten, 47, of Colorado Springs, walked into an FBI office there Thursday and told agents he planned to hitchhike to Pennsylvania, obtain a handgun from his father's house, then hitchhike to the White House to kill Obama, according to an affidavit. He told a Secret Service agent that voices in his head were telling him to do that.
In a separate case, Weld County jail inmate Jesse Arispe was charged Wednesday with sending a threatening letter to Obama in July. Details on that case were not immediate available.
People with mental health problems need treatment, not access to weapons. How hard is this to understand? Not very, but what options do we have? Trying to get someone committed is not easy, and it seems that law enforcement and judges are not always eager to hold people when they demonstrate a threat against others. When you know there is someone out there who is not stable, but has nothing to lose and guns at their disposal, it is very nerve wracking, I can tell you from personal experience. In that case, as in the Tucson case, no one is surprised that the shooter did what he did. All the signs were there, yet none of his access was limited. And that is a frightening thing.