Red flags all around

THE ACCUSED in the Highland Park, Ill., shooting sounds like the poster boy for red-flag laws. His guilt or innocence we can safely leave to the courts in Illinois. But the papers have dug into some background of the accused, and it seems that the red flags were waving high and furious. The lede from the wire services, which this paper printed yesterday:

“A man charged Tuesday with seven counts of murder in connection with more than 70 rounds fired at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago legally bought five weapons, including the high-powered rifle used in the shooting, despite authorities being called to his home twice in 2019 for threats of violence and suicide, police said.”

Seven people are dead. Nearly 40 are wounded. The cops say the perp had been prepping for this shooting for several weeks. There have been reports of disturbing images and videos on social media by this suspect.

Less than three years ago, police were called to the man’s house—when he was still a teen, but an older teen— after somebody in his family called the law because the young man was threatening “to kill everyone.” Police confiscated knives, a dagger and a sword. Also in 2019, cops responded to his house because of a suicide attempt by the suspect. Yet still the massacre last week.

Somebody might mention that Illinois has a red-flag law now.

But such a law must be used. Many Americans will be curious to see why Illinois’ law wasn’t used in this case. And if the explanation is a good one, maybe that could show us the way to tighten up such laws in the future.