How many young fathers have to die? Young fathers executed by a mental health patient sitting on the Patten Towers steps? This recent mental health murder is personal. A mental health patient that has been to “mental health court” four times?
How many times have you walked on that same sidewalk? How many times have you passed by Patton Towers and seen residents sitting on the very same steps, where the mental health patient was sitting, before he did the unthinkable?
In August, our elected representatives were paid to attend a special session in Nashville to deal with mental health and gun violence murder, requested by Governor Bill Lee.
People like this lifetime violent criminal, with a history of mental illness, should not be allowed to have a handgun. But instead of passing laws to prevent mental health murders, the Senate left town early and the House outlawed 8x11 paper signs, held up by grieving parents, that criticized their actions, or inactions, in even voting on meaningful mental health measures.
That is where we are on mental health and gun violence in Tennessee.
This is where we are with our elected representatives. In Tennessee, 80 percent of voters want restrictions on a mental health patient from owning a gun. The other 20 percent? They are the mental health patients. Or should be.
I expect our spineless representatives to claim that “they could not have passed a law that would have prevented this senseless murder.” After all, we have heard that lie before.
C Mark Warren
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I read Mr. Warren's piece once, then again and then a third time each with more incredulity than the last.
Quote: "People like this lifetime violent criminal, with a history of mental illness, should not be allowed to have a handgun."
What kind of ridiculous statement is that? Of course he's not legally allowed to own a handgun. But that didn't stop him did it? Why would he pay attention to any law no matter what it applies to? He's already demonstrated that by his previous 66 arrests.
The only thing that would have prevented this senseless tragedy is if this lifelong career criminal had been behind bars where he belonged. That's the problem with the gun control crowd. They think passing "common sense" gun laws, even though they can't define just what that is, will prevent people from possessing guns even though they have no regard for any other law.
My heart goes out to the Wright family over this terrible tragedy that should have never happened.
Dennis Wooden
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Mark Warren. Really? If I understand your post, you are saying that if our state Senate and House had passed a bill, two months ago, to restrict the mentally ill from owning a firearm then this senseless act would not have happened.
You and everyone else knows this simply is not true. This piece of junk has been arrested 66 times. He was in no way allowed to purchase or own a firearm. The sole reason that Christopher Wright is not here today is because of:
- Liberal Lawyers
- Liberal District Attorneys
- Liberal Judges
How can anyone justify putting a career criminal like Daryl Roberts out on our streets. He has been arrested 66 times. How may other times has he broken the law and not been caught? Blaming guns (which liberals love to do) is not going to solve the problem.
We need to figure out how to severely punish these criminals and get them off the streets. Permanently. If we still had “3 strikes you're out” there would be at least 63 less victims on Daryl Roberts' list.
Chip Rennick
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I would be willing to bet that Darryl Roberts didn't buy that gun from a licensed dealer, and that he filled out no Form 4473.
I'm guessing that gun was stolen, and that Mr. Roberts either stole it himself or bought it from someone who did.
Lots of guns are stolen each year, and they find their way into the hands of folks who can't buy guns from licensed dealers.
Many of the guns that are stolen are stolen from vehicles.
I'm old enough to remember See Mark micturating himself in a letter to this forum way back in August about the District Attorney's office placing a PSA on local billboards advising gun owners not to leave their guns in their vehicles. I think See Mark called them "Glamour Shots."
Heeding the advice of those "Glamour Shots" will likely do a lot more to keep guns away from Mr. Roberts and his ilk than any new (and redundant) legislation would.
The aim of See Mark's recent missives seems to be more about everyone seeing Mark than anything else.
Kevin Hargis