Hold Family and Community Responsible for Lunatics with Guns

Reinking's family was well aware of his mental problems

Reading initial reports in the press about this lunatic it seems plain as day that the authorities should not have returned his guns and his father should never have given them back to him.

Now, because of stupidity on so many levels, there are four people dead and countless police occupied in a manhunt.

When the dust settles, who can the victims hold responsible?

I advocate for state laws that permit civil law suits against individuals and local or state authorities for failing to report or failing to take action in situations where the gun rights of the mentally ill should have been revoked, but were not.

Additionally, state legislatures need to continue efforts to pass emergency laws that permit the confiscation of weapons where suspicion of mental illness exists.

In most of these cases there are people along the way with the information necessary to put a stop to these killer's plans. Those that fail to act are complicit in the crime.

Too Late for NATO in Syria

Syria is full of Russian specialists and equipment

The chance for the U.S. and NATO to take control of the Syria situation is over. The time to have taken action was when Assad crossed Obama's "red line in the sand" to no effect. At that time, the Russians were on the sidelines, waiting to see how events progressed.

When Putin realized that NATO was not going to go after Assad he filled the void and committed to propping up the regime.

Trump came to the White House and promptly launched a series of cruise missiles to hit targets that were hand-picked for him by the Russians, to almost no effect at all.

Now, there is evidence of another Sarin gas attack. Some say it must be the Syrians, others say that Assad wouldn't be so stupid, it must be the rebels looking to draw NATO into the fight.

In any event, the Russians are there, they own this one and it is their problem.

Too bad, really, but, as they say, "you snooze you lose".