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Originally Posted by willravel
Rekna, yes this seems to have little or nothing to do with the Second Amendment and more to do with bad decision making by whomever is in charge of security and background checks. Anyone who would stalk or start a fire should require a psych profile (which could have prevented this massacre).
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I had the same view as you regarding the psych profile being able to prevent this from happening, but apparently that isn't true... below is an excerpt from this article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18169776/
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The two women complained to campus police that Cho was contacting them with “annoying” telephone calls and e-mail messages in November and December 2005, campus Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said.
Cho was referred to the university’s disciplinary system, but Flinchum said the woman declined to press charges, and the case apparently never reached a hearing.
However, after the second incident, the department received a call from an acquaintance of Cho’s, who was concerned that he might be suicidal, Flinchum said. Police obtained a temporary detention order from a local magistrate, and in December of that year, Cho was briefly admitted to Carilion St. Albans Behavioral Health Center in Radford, NBC News’ Jim Popkin reported.
To issue a detention order under Virginia law, a magistrate must find both that the subject is “mentally ill and in need of hospitalization or treatment” and that the subject is “an imminent danger to himself or others, or is so seriously mentally ill as to be substantially unable to care for himself.”
According to a doctor’s report accompanying the order, which was obtained by NBC News, Cho was “depressed,” but “his insight and judgment are normal.” The doctor, a clinical psychologist, noted that Cho “denies suicidal ideations.”
Cho was released, said Dr. Harvey Barker, director of the health center.
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Now, apparently he went to the health center in early 2006, so he essentially had a year after being released for his mind to continue deteriorating to the breaking point. The article mentioned that there were no further police incidents from that point until Monday, so unfortunately there wasn't another chance for a formal re-evaluation of him.
However, every article I've read featuring statements from people who interacted with him gave very grim and creepy views of this guy... so you would think somewhere along the line a warning flag would have gone off in someone's mind and prompted further investigation.