While talking heads go on at length about today’s killing of a Holocaust Museum security guard by a white supremacist hatemonger, about whether hate-talk artists on right-wing radio and TV encourage violence, we see a key point being ignored.
Why was an obviously seething lunatic like suspect James W. von Brunn, 88, armed and on the loose in the nation’s capital, instead of being kept under sedation in a mental institution?
It’s not as though von Brunn tried to keep his raging insanity well hidden.
In 1981, he was arrested for entering the Federal Reserve Board at 20 and C streets NW with a revolver, which he pointed at the stomach of a security guard. The guard called for help, and the gun was taken from von Brunn. When he was arrested, police also found a .12-gauge shotgun that he had concealed under his coat. According to the records, von Brunn had made it to the second floor when guards stopped him, and he surrendered his weapons.He told police, according to charging files, that his actions were “politically motivated” and that he intended to take Paul Volker, then chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and other members hostage so that he could be allowed to voice his opinions through the news media.
On his Web site, von Brunn says he was “convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for 11 years by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals denied his appeal.”
OK, a hateful attitude about people of different races isn’t by itself grounds for being committed. But that attitude – obsession, really – coupled with von Brunn’s history of acting out should’ve at least had authorities keeping a close watch on him. And the focus of their surveillance should’ve been any attempt by von Brunn to get his hands on firearms.
Had authorities kept tabs on von Brunn and had they intervened when he got hold of a .22-caliber rifle, 39-year-old security guard Stephen T. Johns would surely have gone home from his job today alive and well.
Time and time again, the ticking time-bomb people in our midst commit murder and mayhem. Time and again, when the media flesh out the story behind their horrific crimes, we learn they threw out many warning signs over months or years.
America is a relatively dangerous country to live in. That’s not just because Americans have broad freedom to spout hate and own firearms. It’s also very much because we do a horrible job of keeping the insane from harming themselves and others.
People read about horror stories like the one that happened today. They shake their head, talk about it for a day or two, and then go on with their lives as though nothing had happened.
And so, we go from tragedy to tragedy, too complacent, maybe too cheap as well, to give serious thought and discussion to how much an ounce of prevention could be worth.
You can be sure that right now the family and friends of Stephen Johns could tell us plenty about the value of an ounce of prevention. And about the exquisitely painful cost of not bothering.
Yep, agreed. This guy was mean as hell, no doubt about that, considering the company he kept. I’m not convinced he was “insane.”
What I don’t want to hear is a single right-winger ever crying about a report that talks about right-wing extremism.
Right on, Bee. And I don’t want to hear any of them defending the guy who killed the abortion doctor, either, or even insinuating that what the murderer did was anything but murder.
If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, the right needs to police itself a bit. Chances are good they won’t, though. I remember how angry they were when Clinton beat Bush Sr…. this time I think they will be ready to do a lot more than just try to impeach a president. They had more power than any previous administration while Bush-Cheney were in office, and to just give it up without a lot of anger would not be like them.
I think it’s probably a sad kind of outlook to have, but I think we will see an upswing in this kind of domestic terrorism for a while. And much of it will be committed by people with far-right ideologies… It has happened before, and I think it will happen again. How active will the rightwing radio and TV blowhards be in condemning this kind of thing? Will they condemn it at all, or just find a way to blame it on Democrats? I can see them starting more fires and fanning more flames. I’m not sure how to combat it, but the Dems won’t be able to get much done for America if they keep having to put out the brushfires the far-right types start.
I feel so sad for Stephen Johns and his family. You’re right S.W., this truly was something that did not have to happen.
I believe that a part of our responsibility as a nation in preventing things of this nature from happening continuously is to do what we can to marginalize the views of the extremists in high media places who contribute to inciting people in such ways. Their views, through their media pulpits, become the views of millions. Where to start?
Bee, von Brunn is bigoted, mean, crazy and evil. He’s also a convicted felon who used firearms in the commission of a crime previously. Some right winger Olbermann quoted the other night hailed von Brunn as a hero.
Yes, there are more dangerous lunatics out there than von Brunn.
Snave, the radical right doesn’t have a lot going for it in the way of policies and programs to help the public as a whole. For decades they played on people’s gullibility, fears and resentments to win elections. Now, their credibility is shot, and they know it. No longer winning, they’re angry and scared. Some of them are downright dangerous.
Oh jeez, are you STILL talking about this? This is, like, TWO days ago.
Part of the problem (which is likely me simply focusing on a narrower section of what you’re talking about) is this dumbass idea about “both sides” deserving equal time, never truly scrutinizing a viewpoint, because viewpoints, when they are enacted into law, have real consequences. Shit that was considered extreme lunacy in 1977 was mainstream in 2007. Thus, we get people on teevee, on film, on record, all but making excuses for this Nazi stooge.
As you may recall Reagan closed many of the mental istitutions in his budget cutting and now with our present economic mess the situation has gotten worse. Until the stimulus money gets moving into the system (there is more money in it for police) I’d suspect that we’ll see more of this.
Randal wrote: “. . .we get people on teevee, on film, on record, all but making excuses for this Nazi stooge.”
In a better world, they, too, would be in institutions.
I had forgotten that, Demeur. We owe St. Ronald so much for all the dubious blessings of his misleadership.
If von Brunn had a history of leftwing protests and anti-war activism, they’d probably be watching his every move. It reminds me of Martin Luther King’s assassination. When he gave that final speech in Memphis, there were police and FBI agents everywhere. They were so busy looking for Communist instigators, they didn’t see James Earl Ray perched in a nearby balcony.
Tom, that’s a very interesting point, and you could very well be right. I think the lack of surveillance is an equal-opportunity thing, but of course that’s just a hunch.
So it was Reagan that let all those people out of the mental institutions. I wonder if some of them went on to work for outfits like FOX News?
Snave, the Reagan administration was complicit in that, but a popular wave of sentiment had been growing since the 1950′s to deinstitutionalize as many of the mentally ill as possible.