Ah, here we go again...

So, let's see:

- Dude supposedly heard voices - check!
- Dude had been arrested for multiple weapons offenses previously - check!
- Dude had multiple incidents of misconduct while in the USN - check!
- Dude was armed with a shotgun and two pistols - check!
- So - "assault weapons" are at fault.

Another case where thinking you are safe because there are guards at the gate makes for a killing field.

Even Steny Hoyer noted that (my emphasis): "In almost every one of these instances [of mass shootings], we've seen the perpetrators be people who individuals thought were unstable. In this case, apparently this guy was prone to violence. He had apparently shot the tires out of a neighbor's vehicle. He'd shot through the ceiling of another neighbor. He was given a general discharge from the Navy. So there was no doubt that this was somebody who had a record of instability and certainly should have been, I think, subject to closer scrutiny, particularly in access to the facilities at the Navy Yard."

Access to the Navy Yard?  Perhaps access to walking free.

Of course, as a good liberal democrat, Hoyer's (and Feinstein's) knee-jerk answer to the violence perpetrated by unstable, violent, un-charged criminals is "gun control".  How about violence control (my guns are fine)?

You know, elements of this story have become a recurring theme in our most violent headlines and I am not talking about the nature of the weapons used.  One element involves issues of mental health that people turn their back on because it would not be politically correct to note that this person is a danger to themselves or others.  So, in today's world of doing your own thing, pants down to your knees if you have any on at all, someone who seems out of touch with reality is given a wide latitude and permission to be that way.  Wouldn't be right to call it "abnormal". 

This can be compounded, as it was in the Zimmerman case and certainly in this case, when an African-American lives within a system that is particularly tepid in its response to misbehavior lest it be attacked as racist.  Such is the world that has evolved in which noticing bad behavior is dissuaded because of bizarre notions of fairness or equality.

If Americans in certain places and roles were doing their job, were willing to enforce rules in a fair and impartial way for all and stop excusing bad behavior because identifying it might be stigmatizing or might mean sanctioning someone of a protected race, then perhaps such events could diminish.  We must be honest; Martin would be alive now if his parents and the Miami-Dade school system had dealt seriously with his misconduct when it occurred, when he started down the path that lead him to mistake a "Creepy ass cracker" for an easy beat-down.  Twelve people at the DC Navy yards would be alive today if this perpetrator had been tried and convicted for his previous law-breaking and received treatment for any existing mental health issues.

For more on the response we can expect to see, look here.