Quote Originally Posted by Catty1 View Post
LH - on your second point, I recalled the case of the director's son in CA who went on that shooting spree. There were lots of verbal warnings on FB and etc, and the cops were sent to see the guy. They didn't think to search his apartment for guns, unfortunately.

I think checking out verbal threats, even by arresting the person, is a case of better safe than sorry.

If they'd arrested the guy in CA, I wonder if things would have been different?

ETA: And yes, people can be incredibly stupid.
There's a difference and a fine line between performing due diligence (searching, ordering mental health evals, etc) and arresting someone for comments posted online. Unfortunately, with the current laws in the US, getting someone into a forced commitment for eval can be a nightmare, even when requested by legal guardians.