Maine Shooter's Family, Army Reserve Unit Told Police He Was Losing It And Had Guns. Odd How Nothing Came Of That.

Deputies went to his home twice, but he wasn't home, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Video screenshot, NBC News on Twitter; shooter’s face pixelated because who needs to see him now that he’s dead?

In yet another tale of how gun regulations inevitably lead to oppression, just like gun humpers have always feared, the Washington Post reports (gift link) that if gun laws lead to police states, they may be run by the Keystone Kops. In May, months prior to the shootings in Lewiston, Maine, that left 18 dead and 13 wounded, the shooter’s family contacted local law enforcement to say they were concerned he might be armed and dangerously unstable.

It wasn’t only Robert Card’s family, though. There were also contacts with Robert Card’s Army Reserve unit to follow up on that May report from his family, and a September email from the Reserve unit, which requested a wellness check after Card made threatening statements and said he was hearing voices; that email included a report that

a soldier described as a friend of Card’s reported that the future gunman “had assaulted him” while they were driving home from a casino. The soldier said Card then threatened to open fire at a drill center in Saco, Maine, the letter said. The soldier also expressed his fear that Card would carry out a mass killing.

Deputies went to Card’s address on two successive days to check on him, but he wasn’t there, slipping through the clutches of the modern surveillance state until he resurfaced last week to commit the most deadly mass shooting of 2023, though we have little doubt that online creeps are fantasizing about topping it.

The details of the relentless pursuit of a then-innocent responsible gun owner were released in records from the sheriff’s office Monday:

Sheriff Joel Merry said in a statement that his office was contacted by members of Card’s family on May 3. The relatives said Card’s mental health had begun declining in January, adding that they were worried about his well-being and noting his access to guns. […]

A May 3 incident report released by the sheriff’s office said Card’s ex-wife reported that he had “recently picked up 10-15 handguns/rifles” from his brother’s house, and that Card’s adult son said it appeared his father had begun hearing voices in January.

After that May report, Merry said, a deputy got in touch with Card’s Reserve unit and “connected them with Mr. Card’s family, who assured our office that they would ensure that Card received medical attention.”

If the May report resulted in any more action, it’s not mentioned in the Post story. Card did try to purchase a silencer online in August. When he went to pick it up at a licensed firearm dealer, he answered “yes” on the intrusive Second-Amendment-infringing background check form that asked if he’d ever been “adjudicated as a mental defective” or “committed to a mental institution,” so he was denied. Talk about government excess!

In September, the Army Reserve — misidentified as the “National Guard” in the sheriff’s office incident report because who outside the military hasn’t made that mistake? — requested that wellness check “out of an abundance of caution after becoming concerned for his safety,” according to an Army spokesperson.

According to the incident report, Card’s military superiors said he was “having psychotic episodes where he is hearing voices that are insulting him calling him a pedophile” and had made “threats to shoot up” a military facility.

The incident report also describes a letter from the military regarding Card that reported that he had been “hearing voices” insulting him. The voices started in the spring, the letter said, but only worsened. Card grew agitated and angry with other soldiers, then was taken to receive psychiatric treatment, the letter said.

That’s the same letter with the report from the soldier who said Card assaulted him, that Card threatened to open fire at a drill center, the soldier who was worried Card would commit a mass shooting.

The sheriff’s office also sent out an alert to other Maine law enforcement agencies to warn that Card was “armed and dangerous” and should be approached with “extreme caution,” but such notices are very routine in police work, and may come in daily, or several times a day, according to Police Chef JoAnne Fisk of Biddleford, Maine. (The Post notes that “Fisk had no memory of the specific alert involving Card,” which goes to show.)

After another failed attempt to check on Card at home on September 16, the incident report says a deputy got in touch with Card’s unit commander, who explained Card didn’t have access to the unit’s weapons, adding that officials in the Reserve were trying to persuade Card to retire on the condition that he get mental health treatment.

The following day, Merry said in his statement, a deputy connected with the gunman’s brother and was told that he planned to “secure” any guns to which Card had access.

In the incident report, the sheriff’s deputy said Card’s brother reported that such weapons were stored in a gun safe on the family farm. The family planned to move them, the brother added, according to the report.

The deputy asked the family to reach back out if they believed Card posed a danger to himself or others, or needed an evaluation, according to Merry.

And that, apparently, was that, although it seems Card somehow managed to circumvent the government’s seamless, tyrannical plot to keep an American from his precious, precious guns.

Sheriff Merry said Monday that he believed his department “acted appropriately and followed procedures for conducting an attempt to locate and wellness check,” and no he did not take any questions. Sheriff Pippin had no comment.

So there you go. It’s simply impossible for America to do anything to prevent these things from happening, so we should probably just give up.

[WaPo (gift link)]

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