What would cause a young person to snap?

Dr. Harold Koplewicz: Arizona Shooting: Treating Mental Illness Before it Kills
In the Mass Shooting in Arizona Saturday there were heroes who prevented even more bloodshed. We need heroes to intervene before lives are lost. The three people who wrestled Jared Loughner to the ground and disarmed him outside a Supermarket in Tucson are being hailed as heroes, and rightly so. They prevented further loss of life at the hands of the 22-year-old, who had, in little more than an instant, killed six people and wounded more than a dozen others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords....

Jared Loughner, Gabrielle Giffords, Mental Illness, and the Unabomber
The AP says: "He was obviously disturbed... He disrupted class frequently with nonsensical outbursts," said Lynda Sorenson, who took a math class with Loughner last summer" Involuntary commitment laws did begin to change twelve years ago at the state level when 32-year-old Kendra Webdale was pushed to her death in front of an oncoming New York City subway train by Andrew Goldstein, a young man with untreated serious Mental Illness. In reaction to this incident and similar ones across the cou...

Only 32% of Americans Feel Political Rhetoric is to Blame for Jared Loughner Tucson Shooting Massacre
Once again Liberals, Democrats and yhe MSM find themselves on the wrong side with the American People … 57% of Americans believe that political Rhetoric was not to blame for the murderous acts on Saturday by gunman Jared Loughner. Only 32% believe Rhetoric was to blame as many jumped to conclusions and fueled their political agenda like Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik. Many Democrats, Liberals and their complicit liberal mouth pieces in the media were quick to exploit the Tucson

Poll: Most Say Rhetoric, Killings Unrelated
From a deeply saddened CBS News: Poll: Most Americans Feel Rhetoric, Tucson Shooting Unrelated Posted by Daniel Carty January 11, 2011 Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country’s heated political rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll. So either our media master has better ratchet up their efforts or move on to their fall back position - Gun Control. In the wake ...

Tuesday: Guns for everyone (and bullets for every gun) edition
As realists we know that here in the United States we aren’t ever going to outlaw private ownership of guns. But, you might (realistically) think that this Tuesday Morning — nearly 3 days after the terrible shooting in Tucson — there would be a steady stream of articles calling for more serious Regulation of the guns in this country. There isn’t. Apparently Gun Control is off the table. With my background in programming and maintaining databases I should have known bett...

Letting Crazies Loose
Mental Illness and Mass Murder How many more tragedies like the Tucson shootings will we have to watch before we start facing the harsh truth? Personally, I consider it a kindness to institutionalize those who are mentally incapable as it provides them with needed care and protects innocents (like 9 year old girls) from being brutally murdered. Just sayin'. AND "If you see it on the news one night, know that I got out fast..." AND this from Jerry Pournelle Back in 1971 when I started the shoote...

Tucson Shooting Suspect's Family "Hurting Real Bad"
NEXT » Yesterday, when the man suspected of shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, as well as over a dozen others (leaving six dead), in an apparent Assassination attempt appeared in court, not a single relative of Jared Lee Loughner was spotted in the courtroom. Now details are emerging about the 22-year-old's family, who initially blocked the FBI from entering their home. And a neighbor told the NY Post that Loughner's dad is "pretty much the neighborhood prick." The neighbor, who also said...

On Jared Loughner: The politicized mind
Before he allegedly went off on his shooting rampage in Tucson, Jared Loughner listed some of his favorite books on his YouTube page. These included: “Animal Farm,” “Brave New World,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Through the Looking Glass” and “The Communist Manifesto.” Many of these books share a common theme: individuals trying to control their own thoughts and government or some other f...

Sherrod Brown: Tucson Tragedy Highlights Poor State Of Mental Health Safety Net
Sherrod Brown: Tucson Tragedy Highlights Poor State Of Mental Health Safety Net This morning during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) argued that the Tucson tragedy highlighted the the poor state of the nation’s mental health safety net and said that the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, “should have been identified at the community college when he was thrown out”: BROWN: It’s only going to get worse because of state Budget cuts. ThatR...

Could Arizona shooting have been prevented?
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON | Mon Jan 10, 2011 4:51pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jared Lee Loughner, the 22-year-old Arizona man charged with killing six people and injuring 12 others, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, clearly scared more than a few people. Instructors at his college, as well as friends and neighbors, have said they expressed concerns about Loughner's behavior in the months before he opened fire at a gathering at a Tucson Shopping Mall on Sa...

5 Steps for Congress to prevent more Giffords shootings. Call for Congressional Action
1) Prioritize the seriously mentally ill. Federal mental-health dollars now go to an astonishing variety of social programs for the worried-well, with little left for the seriously ill. Congress should establish a federal definition of "serious Mental Illness" that covers no more than 5 percent of the population and require all programs that get federal mental-health funds to use at least 60 percent of those funds for the seriously mentally ill. 2) Eliminate the Substance Abuse and Mental Hea...

The Tucson Tragedy: Is the Mental Health System at Fault?
From a psychiatric standpoint, there is not yet enough information available to answer the key question surrounding Jared Lee Loughner: At what point, if any, in the last few years did the mental-health Surveillance and treatment systems break down? Were there periods along the way where Loughner could have justifiably been coerced into treatment? We simply don’t know yet. Typically, people who end up at the center of tragic stories such as these — the 2006 Virginia Tech shooter; And...

Story Blaming Acquaintances for Not Committing Loughner Underplays AZ Cuts in Mental Health Services
According to the Washington Post, Arizona has a law on the books that enables anyone to identify a potential Victim of Mental Illness, and remand them for treatment: Under Arizona law, any one of Jared Lee Loughner’s classmates or teachers at Pima Community College so concerned about his increasingly bizarre behavior could have contacted local officials and asked that he be evaluated for mental illness and potentially committed for psychiatric treatment. That, according to local mental h...

Nearly Six in Ten Americans Say The Country's Heated Political Rhetoric is Not To Blame For Tuscon Shooting
32 percent say it was cbsnews Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country's heated political Rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll. In the wake of the shooting, much focus has been put on the harsh tone of politics in Washington and around the country, particularly after a contentious Midterm Election. Rhetoric and imagery from both Republicans and Democrats have included gun-...

Arizona shooting suspect's parents said "devastated"
TUCSON, Ariz | Tue Jan 11, 2011 12:03pm EST TUCSON, Ariz (Reuters) - The parents of the 22-year-old Arizona man accused of Saturday's shooting rampage are devastated and planning to release a statement, a neighbor told local media on Tuesday. Jared Lee Loughner appeared in court on Monday on charges including attempting to assassinate Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killing a Federal Judge, some of the 20 Victims of the shootings at a constituent's meeting Giffords was hosting at a loca...

Neighbor: Parents of Shooting Suspect Devastated and Guilt Ridden
Crying nonstop since Saturday Associated PressPHOENIX - The parents of the suspect in Saturday's Shooting Spree in Tucscon are devastated and guilt-ridden, a neighbor said. Jared Loughner, 22, appeared in court Monday on federal charges that he tried to assassinate U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed a Federal Judge. He is also accused of killing five others and wounding or injuring 13 others. Loughner's parents, Randy and Amy Loughner, are devastated, according to neighbor Wayne Smit...

Poll: Rhetoric, Arizona Shooting Unrelated
Almost 60 percent of the public believes that heated political Rhetoric has nothing to do with an Arizona Shooting Spree that gravely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) and killed a Federal Judge. Fifty-seven percent of respondents in a new CBS News poll said Rhetoric is unrelated to the shooting, while 32 percent said they believe the two are connected. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to mono...

The Tucson Shooter and the Case for Involuntary Commitment
Warning Label: This article will make civil Libertarians unhappy. Read at your own risk. We are embroiled, alas, in a politicized argument about the slaughter in Tucson. While most of the charges being flung about rest on a scanty basis (at best), the most important and least contestable facts are getting lost: Jared Lee Loughner was mentally ill when he pulled the trigger, there were multiple signs of his descent into delusion over the past year, and no one did very much about it. To be sure, ...

The Tuscon people were good at stopping a shooting spree that might have gone on much longer.
Remember the Virginia Tech shooting, in which the shooter was allowed to reload several times and roam from room to room until he'd shot 32 persons to death and wounded many others? The culture in Arizona is different: In my district and in my state, we have a very strong gun culture. I own a gun, members of my family own guns.Those are the words of Gabrielle Gifford, interviewed in May 2010. ...

Treat the Mentally Ill
While everyone is arguing about a map on Sarah Palin’s Facebook page, we should be talking about better ways to get treatment for the mentally ill. From the website of the Treatment Advocacy Center: Ten years ago Monday, January 10, the shooting death of College Student Laura Wilcox, 19, by a man with untreated Mental Illness made headlines in California and inspired passage of “Laura’s Law ” in California. The law authorizes court-ordered treatment for individuals with s...

How California can prevent violence by mentally ill, save money, and improve care: Laura's Law
That's not surprising. New York has the largest collection of data on AOT (known there as Kendra's Law) and the savings have been even greater than expected. Among people with Mental Illness enrolled in AOT in New York: 87% fewer experienced Incarceration. Money saved. 83% fewer were arrested. Money saved. 77% fewer experienced psychiatric Hospitalization. Money saved. And length of hospitalizations was reduced 56%. Money saved. Rather than saving money, California sends the mentally ill to...

Tucson and the Left's Online Orgy of Accusation
The Left's effort to link Jared Loughner's actions to conservative Talk Radio, Hate Speech, Sarah Palin's targets, etc. had nothing to do with urging us all to consider the consequences of political statements and symbols. Rather, it's part of a constant campaign to use the Web organize and energize its base around sensational narratives consistent with an ideological or cultural view as substitute for facts or events as they really unfold. The deliberate use of the Web to create instant mobs or...

Arizona Shootings: When Speculation Is Acceptable
Not a Veteran. NOT a Veteran. *NOT* a Veteran. How many times must we go through this? I had no clue what he was talking about since, like the rest of male Americana save Demophilius, I was watching football. So, I went to my designated homepage, Drudgereport, to see what was up. Sure enough, right there in one of the links at top was the words I feared: “Military Veteran.” Ah $#!^, I thought. The link took me to a Washington Post article that indeed stated that Law Enforcement offic...

Additional charges certified in Huguely UVA case
Additional charges have been been filed by the Charlottesville Commonwealth's Attorney against George Huguely V, 23, the University of Virginia Lacrosse player who had originally been charged with first-degree Murder in the May 3, 2010, death of his estranged girlfriend, UVA women's Lacrosse player Yeardley Love. Huguely's representatives appeared in Charlottesville General District Court today to face additional charges of felony murder, Robbery, statutory Burglary, and larceny although he repo...

Hearing set for suspect in U.Va. slaying case
A former University of Virginia Lacrosse player accused of killing a women's Lacrosse player is set to make a video appearance in court after being charged with additional counts. The hearing for 23-year-old George Huguely is scheduled for Monday morning in Charlottesville General District Court. New charges of felony Murder, Robbery, Burglary, statutory burglary and Grand Larceny charges were filed against Huguely on Friday. He already was being held without bond on a first-degree murder charge...