In an entry for the Washington Post (6/17) “Wonkblog,” Harold Pollack asked, in light of several recent mass shootings, including Elliott Rodger’s shooting rampage in Isla Vista, CA, if “mental health and law enforcement authorities could mount a better, more systematic response when a potentially dangerous person comes to their attention.”
In a piece in the Los Angeles Times, Renee Binder, MD, president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association, wondered whether a restraining order would also have been helpful in the Rodgers case. In light of the “concerns expressed by Rodger’s parents, a judge would have had the authority to temporarily seize his weapons, examine the relevant evidence, and perhaps connect some of dots that were missed in the original investigation.”
A judge might have also “temporarily prohibited Rodger from possessing firearms if it were determined that he posed a credible (though perhaps not immediate) risk.”
Related Links:
— “Why law enforcement missed Elliot Rodger’s warnings signs,” Harold Pollack, Washington Post, June 17, 2014.