Peabody, thanks very much for this information. Its good to know that Florida has this statute to implement in order to handle people who threaten suicide. I don’t know if my state has it but I’m going to show what you’ve written to my landlord friend. Thanks again!

Wynski, OK, that’s good news, if, as you cite with these figures the incidences of mass shootings are actually decreasing and not increasing, and that they seem to be increasing is only an apparency created by the media.

Do you have more recent figures?

I note this page matches the numbers you quote: https://www.globalresearch.ca/mass-shootings-in-america-a-historical-review/5355990

but the 14 is not to 2010-present, it is 2010-2013.

Good Morning again. I’m starting to feel like everything I say ticks you off, and i regret that. I would like for things to be more friendly between us. I often see great insight in your posts.

The FAIL! remark reminded me of a video I watched of Jesse Prince and Stacy Young demonstrating TRs. But after thinking some more, i think the word they used was Flunk.

Someone once said, here or at Tony’s place ‘My mind is not so much a steel trap anymore as a lint trap in a dryer, collecting random bits of fluff.’ I told them i was going to use the remark, because it so neatly describes my brain these last 10 years or so. 🙂

Aqua, MASS shootings by decade:
80’s = 32, 90’s = 42, 00’s = 28, ’10 – present= 14

It is overall DOWN TRENDING for mass shootings. Fake news makes it seem like it is increasing over time…

“And thanks for giving me a sci-speak FAIL!”

?? I used no “sci-speak”. I used formal logic.

Ok, I did it again. I said that wrong. I didn’t mean homicide rates per se. What I was referring to were MASS shootings. Surprise attacks, mass murders of people gathered together somewhere – school, concert, church, niteclub – by one lone, deranged gunman. That type of incident, was what I meant.

In Florida, there’s a Statute (394.451-394.47891) called the Baker Act which allows for involuntary examination (what some call emergency or involuntary commitment). It can be initiated by judges, law enforcement officials, physicians, or mental health professionals.

The criteria, as stated in the statute, mentions a substantial likelihood that without care or treatment the person will cause serious bodily harm in the near future. (“Substantial” means ample, considerable, firm or strong.)

Examinations may last up to 72 hours after a person is deemed medically stable and occur in over 100 Florida Department of Children and Families-designated receiving facilities statewide.

There are many possible outcomes following examination of the patient. This includes the release of the individual to the community (or other community placement), a petition for involuntary inpatient placement (what some call civil commitment), involuntary outpatient placement (what some call outpatient commitment or assisted treatment orders), or voluntary treatment (if the person is competent to consent to voluntary treatment and consents to voluntary treatment). The involuntary outpatient placement language in the Baker Act took effect as part of the Baker Act reform in 2005.

I would assume that there are similar Statutes in other States.

Suicide legislation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_legislation#Americas

“horrifying, senseless slaughters that have been occurring with increasing frequency over the past 10 years.”

Aqua, Not true. Homicide rates in the USA are now HALF of what they were in the 70’s (with MANY more guns in circulation). Also, school murders are down since the 90’s. However, there is MUCH fake news about them being high.

https://mises.org/wire/there-are-fewer-school-shootings-now-during-1990s

Peabody, this is helpful information. You’ve certainly done your research. I would not disagree that this Cruz guy should have been been monitored and watched.

But here’s the thing – and I’m not a legal person so keep this in mind with my question – how can law enforcement monitor a POTENTIAL criminal?

Meaning, someone who has SAID publicly that he or she is going to commit some crime at some point, but at the time of stating such has not violated any law?

I don’t know the laws about this. Under our current system, is such a would-be criminal protected under the First Amendment, free speech, etc?

Obviously some people who SAY they are going to do horrible things, DO them. Then again, others don’t.

How is the law allowed to handle such people?

Here’s an example from my own life:

A landlord I know in my town has a tenant – she’s mental. She hears noises that aren’t there. She says her neighbor is running an extremely loud air conditioner that is preventing her from sleeping – in the middle of winter – when neither her neighbor or anyone in the building are running air conditioners. She’s obsessed with this neighbor. What else…she howls and moans in the middle of the night as per her fellow residents, waking them up… She’s also a sporadic rent payer which is grounds for the landlord to not renew her lease but he renews it – know why? Because 5 years ago she got her notice of non-renewal from him and called and emailed threatening to kill herself if he didn’t renew her lease. He renewed it.

Since then he’s told me she’s threatened to kill herself, throw herself out the window, if the landlord doesn’t force the tenant next door to her to remove the air conditioner which she claims is being run just to make sure she can’t sleep.She has emailed him a number of times stating that if a repair she’s requesting is not done immediately she’ll throw herself out the window.

This woman is nuts and the landlord is stuck with her because one day after all these threats to kill herself she just might do it. And he might be blamed for having caused all her distress. He thinks.

Obviously she should be in an institution but no, she’s out, walking around, she speaks well, she dresses well and comes across as normal. She’s broken no laws. The law protects her from being picked up and whisked off to an mental asylum.

What to do? Sorry for the long post this turned out to be, Peabody but honestly, I would love to get some insight into this kind of issue, wherein someone states beforehand the intention of committing a crime (I think suicide is a crime, right? 🙂 )