Tamarac shooter legally bought gun despite signs of mental illness

[jpak]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-tamarac-neighbor-shooting-20130203,0,123145.story

Linda Sue Davis was mentally troubled but not enough to prohibit her from legally buying a gun — which she used to kill a neighbor.

Her family says she was diagnosed as bipolar and fought severe depression. She had been involuntarily hospitalized for mental health evaluations three times since 2009. And police had visited her home 79 times since 2008, flagging her as a Signal 20 – or a mentally ill person – and warning deputies to "approach with extreme caution."

Despite all that, Davis, 60, was able to buy a 9 mm handgun at a Lauderdale Lakes pawn shop on Nov. 14, 2011.

She used that firearm on Jan. 9 to inexplicably gun down 75-year-old Jolene Shamburg, her neighbor in the Mainlands of Tamarac Lakes, a 55-and-over community. When Davis later refused to drop her weapon, she was in turn shot and killed by a BSO deputy.

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[Duckhunter935]

1. That is why

we have to fix the existing NICS system to prevent this.

[Dems to Win]

2. I am sick to death of gunowners 'freedom' trumping the rights of the GunFree. Enough!

[Straw Man]

3. So would you suggest ...

... that the powers-that-be dedicate the necessary resources to enforcing the NICS system that was created specifically to prevent incidents like this, or would you suggest the creation of new legislation that will also be inadequately implemented and enforced?

[Dems to Win]

4. I don't buy your either/or strawman

Strong meaningful background checks on every single transaction require both new legislation and vigorous implementation.

[Straw Man]

5. The system is in place ...

... that would have prevented this if it had been properly followed and enforced. What was missing that new legislation would provide? A new law that would mandate adherence to the old law? As in "We really mean it this time"?