So according to CNN, the Arizona shooter is probably mentally ill:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/10/arizona.shooting/index.html?hpt=T1"Investigators have not found anything connecting Loughner to extremist groups, the law enforcement official said. They believe Loughner was unemployed at the time of the shooting, according to the official.
Months before Saturday's shooting rampage, one of Loughner's former teachers at Pima Community College said he saw Loughner as a threat and kicked him out of class.
Loughner was "physically removed" from an algebra course in June -- less than a month after it began -- instructor Ben McGahee told CNN.
Loughner voluntarily withdrew from the school in October after being suspended, the college said in a statement. McGahee said Loughner sometimes shook, blurted things out in class and appeared to be under the influence of drugs at times.
"I was scared of what he could do," McGahee said. "I wasn't scared of him physically, but I was scared of him bringing a weapon to class."
The 9 mm pistol used in Saturday's shootings was purchased at a gun store in November, FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters Sunday. And a law enforcement source said the suspect tried to buy ammunition at a Walmart store, but was turned down because of his behavior. Another Walmart store later sold him the ammunition, the source said.
When Loughner tried to enlist in the Army in 2008, the service rejected him for reasons it says it can't disclose due to privacy laws. But an administration official told CNN on Sunday that the suspect had failed a drug test."Loughner was physically removed from school because of his behavior. He was unemployed - probably because he was too unstable to hold down a job. Walmart once refused to sell him ammunition because they thought he was too unstable (kudos to them - I did not even know they would do that).
Yet this guy purchased his firearm in a gun store, which means he passed the NICS instant background check. Which means he had no disqualifying criminal or mental history on record.
Yet he was crazy as a loon, and people knew it.
Now I'm not hot on the idea of Canadian-style background checks as a prerequisite for firearm ownership. I don't want to have to get permission from some government functionary who, on a whim, might decide that I should be able to own a firearm.
But clearly we've got a problem with crazy people getting their hands on firearms. Now the laws were strengthened afterward, but remember that Seung-Hui Cho was also known to have mental issues and he bought his firearms legally and passed the background check also.
Personally, I think we need to have better infrastructure for reporting, treating, and tracking mentally unstable people, so that their identities get put into the NICS database. I think there needs to be a less stringent requirement than simply being "adjudicated mentally incompetent" or being "involuntarily committed to a mental institution". Certainly if you are kicked out of college for behavior problems that ought to be a red flag.