Trump issues policy paper to expand gun rights and mental health treatment

Katie Zezima reports in the Washington Post that Donald Trump has released his gun rights policy paper.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump -- who said he has a concealed carry permit -- called for the expansion of gun rights Friday, including making those permits applicable nationwide.

In a position paper published on his website Friday afternoon, Trump called for the elimination of gun and magazine bans, labeling them a "total failure."

"Law-abiding people should be allowed to own the firearm of their choice. The government has no business dictating what types of firearms good, honest people are allowed to own," Trump wrote.

...Trump said in the paper he has a concealed carry permit. The permits, which are issued by states, should be valid nationwide like a driver's license, Trump said.

"If we can do that for driving -- which is a privilege, not a right -- then surely we can do that for concealed carry, which is a right, not a privilege," Trump said.

...The real estate magnate called for expanding mental health treatment, saying that people with mental health issues who are violent must be off the street "before they can terrorize our communities." Trump said the issue has been ignored.

"All of the tragic mass murders that occurred in the past several years have something in common – there were red flags that were ignored," Trump said. "And why does this matter to law-abiding gun owners? Once again, because they get blamed by anti-gun politicians, gun control groups and the media for the acts of deranged madmen."

Read more here.

Who is sane, and who is not?

The dude didn't get custody of his kids, so he decided to blame the police, and shoot bullet holes in the window of the Dallas Police Station.

Nomaan Merchant covers the story for Associated Press.

With bullet holes in the side of the Dallas Police headquarters, Bill Smith of the FBI works the scene after an early morning shooting Saturday, June 13, 2015, in Dallas. A man suspected of spraying the headquarters with gunfire and planting pipe bombs, early on Saturday, has been found dead in a van after a police sniper shot him, police Chief David Brown said.

Authorities say it was miraculous no one else was injured in Saturday's attack, in which the gunman sprayed the front of the building with gunfire just after midnight. After opening fire, the suspect drove the armored van into a squad car, still firing, then led police on a chase to a restaurant parking lot in the suburb of Hutchins. The police sniper shot him during the standoff, but it took several hours to confirm his death out of fear that he had loaded his van with more explosives.

James Boulware was arrested for family violence in Dallas two years ago, in a case that was later dismissed. According to a Dallas police reports, a witness says Boulware was in his mother's house and "began talking rudely about religion, Jews and Christians." The report says Boulware then grabbed his mother by the neck for 2-3 seconds until a third person could pull him off. The two men fought until Boulware left the house.

The police report says he was then reported the same day to be in Paris, Texas, about 100 miles away, where he grabbed weapons and body armor and talked about "shooting up schools and churches." Andrew Boulware and his father, Jim, confirmed the incident.

Andrew Boulware accused authorities in Dallas of ignoring family members' statements that James was mentally unstable.

"They diagnosed him as sane in 15 minutes," Boulware said.

He remembers James claiming that he had dreamed about the school shootings in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and other disasters before they had happened. He also remembers pleading with James Boulware to get medical help, and going to a local official but being ignored.

"He never was properly diagnosed," Andrew Boulware said. "He could be the nicest guy in the world. He tried to help friends out whenever he could. He was not a bitter person."

His mother, Jeannine Howard, said in a statement to local media that she considered her son "lost to mental health" long before his death.

"We tried to get him mental help numerous times, but the system failed him, because he was declared 'sane,'" she said in the statement. "He was very delusional. It was very obvious.

The day before the shooting, Boulware spent several hours at his father's home in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton. He was talking about the armored van he had just purchased days earlier, having taken a bus to Georgia to pick it up and drive it back.

Read more here.

Armored van? Did the elder Mr. Boulware think there was anything strange about that? Did he report it to authorities? Would authorities have done anything? James Boulware seems to me to be an example of why we need NSA!