It's The Mental Illness

D.J. Jaffee has a column at National Review Online about the woman who tried to ram her way into the White House.  Her boyfriend (and the father of the one year old who was in the car when police shot her to death) had made attempts to get her help for her mental illness:

According to CNN, he “contacted police in December saying he feared for the safety of their child, who was 4 months old at the time. The boyfriend said the woman was acting delusional, claiming the president had placed Stamford under lockdown and that her house was under electronic surveillance.” He thought she had post-partum depression, but police found medications for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression in her home.

The most likely scenario is that Miriam was not taking the medications or they weren’t working. Either way, someone who was dangerous was on the streets.

We know how to stop this. What we need is mandatory and monitored community treatment for those known to have serious mental illness and a history of dangerousness, incarceration, or needless repeated hospitalizations.

He then goes on to discuss assisted outpatient treatment, a step in between doing nothing at all, and involuntary commitment.  This has been in most places that have implemented it, an effective strategy that reduces self-harm and harm to others.  Unfortunately, Miriam lived in Connecticut, a state where such a law was considered by the legislature in 2012, but the ACLU vetoed it.  We know that Adam Lanza's mother was attempting to get a guardianship over her son at the time Adam murdered his mother, then all those kids at Sandy Hook.  Would this law have helped her in her efforts?  It's hard to say.  But we can say that the continual screeching by the mainstream media about gun control -- while ignoring the larger problem of mental illness with mentally ill people running amok with cars -- is accomplishing nothing at all.