Another ‘Known Wolf’ Kills 18 In Maine

“Known Wolf” is a term we’ve coined to describe a mass killer or terrorist who was known to law enforcement, but was ignored until it was too late. So, it will surprise no one who follows the Democrats’ attacks on the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment that there’s a

lot more to the story of Robert Card’s murderous rampage in Lewiston, Maine than the Biden White House and their allies in the Leftwing media have been telling the American people.

The names of the dead and injured hadn’t even been announced yet when Joe Biden issued a political statement regarding the killings:

…in the wake of yet another tragedy, I urge Republican lawmakers in Congress to fulfill their duty to protect the American people. Work with us to pass a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, to enact universal background checks, to require safe storage of guns, and end immunity from liability for gun manufacturers. This is the very least we owe every American who will now bear the scars — physical and mental — of this latest attack.

And of course Democrats and their usual media allies all piled on.

However, the reality is Card’s mental health problems and threats were already on the radar of local law enforcement – who did nothing – while a local gun shop actually followed the existing law and refused to transfer a suppressor (silencer) to Card just weeks before the killings.

As ABC News reported:

Nearly three months before Robert Card would tear through a bar and a bowling alley in rural Maine last week -- killing 18 and injuring 13 -- he tried to buy a silencer for a rifle at a local firearms store, the owner said Saturday.

“He came in and filled out the form, he checked off a box that incriminated himself saying that he was in an institution,” Rick LaChapelle, owner of Coastal Defense Firearms, said. “Our staff was fantastic, let him finish filling out the form, and said, ‘I'm sorry, Mr. Card, we cannot give you this… at this point in time, we cannot release this silencer to you because of the answers that you've given us.”

LaChapelle added "we did what we were supposed to do and hopefully saved a lot of lives by the proper, just following the proper procedures.”

Notice that Card had attempted to pick up the suppressor months before the killings and let’s not forget that the local police were well aware of Robert Card and his threats.

CNN reported Maine National Guard asked local police to check on the reservist who killed 18 people after a soldier became concerned he would “snap and commit a mass shooting,” according to information shared with CNN.

Officers from the Sagadahoc County and Kennebec County Sheriff’s Offices responded and tried to contact Robert Card on September 16, less than six weeks before Wednesday’s massacres in a bowling alley and a bar, documents say, according to a law enforcement source.

The information obtained by CNN describes how the Sagadahoc County sergeant called for backup, tried without success to talk to the reservist and then received disturbing details from the Maine National Guard and the killer’s family.

The responding sergeant from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office was told “when [he] answers the door at his trailer, in the past he usually does so with a handgun in hand out of view from the person outside,” according to the source familiar with the welfare check report.

The responding officer learned later in a letter from the National Guard that a fellow guardsman “is concerned that [the reservist] is going to snap and commit a mass shooting,” according to the report filed in connection with the wellness check.

Maine has what is known as a “Yellow Flag” law that allows the state to prohibit firearm possession for someone amid a mental health crisis, but only after a report to police, a police investigation, exam by a doctor and then order from a judge. Critics say the regulation is ineffective because it creates undue delays in keeping guns out of the hands of those struggling through a mental health crisis, but such a procedure is a necessary due process requirement under the Constitution.

Card’s mental health issues were first brought to the attention of Maine officials back in July, according to reporting by CNN:

According to information apparently supplied to Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office by the Maine National Guard, the man spent 14 days at a psychiatric hospital in July before being released.

That hospital stay was prompted after he had trouble with other soldiers in New York state in July.

The National Guard told the Sagadahoc sheriff’s office their reservist had begun hearing insulting voices in the spring, and they had only gotten worse.

On July 15 near West Point, he and other soldiers “had gone to a convenience store to get some beer,” according to information shared with CNN, quoting a National Guard letter.

“In the parking lot [he] accused three of them of calling him a pedophile and said he would take care of it,” it went on. “One of the soldiers who had been friends with [him] for a long time was there. [He] got in his face, shoved him, and told him to stop calling him a pedophile.”

The law enforcement source told CNN they said they calmed their comrade down, got back to the motel, where he locked himself in his room and would not respond.

The next day, another guardsman got the key to his room and saw him. “[He] told me to leave him alone and tried to slam the door in my face,” the report quoted him as saying, adding that the guardsman took the man to a base hospital where a psychologist determined he needed further treatment, which led to the 14-day psychiatric stay.

There was plenty of time to go through the proper constitutional procedures to trigger Maine’s “yellow flag” law, but as far as we can tell from the public record, no one took the first step beyond the unsuccessful “welfare check” to determine if Card’s guns should be removed because he was a danger to himself and others.

Robert Card was another “known wolf,” a mass killer whose potential for violence was known to law enforcement but was ignored or never followed up. Don’t buy the line from Joe Biden and his Leftwing media allies that guns are responsible for Robert Card’s killing spree, there are already plenty of laws on the books that could have separated Card and his guns, what was missing was the will and resources to enforce them.

CHQ Editor George Rasley is a certified rifle and pistol instructor, a Glock ® certified pistol armorer and a veteran of over 300 political campaigns, including every Republican presidential campaign from 1976 to 2008. He served as lead advance representative for Governor Sarah Palin in 2008 and has served as a staff member, consultant, or advance representative for some of America's most recognized conservative Republican political figures, including President Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. A member of American MENSA, he served in policy and communications positions on the House and Senate staff, and during the George H.W. Bush administration he served on the White House staff of Vice President Dan Quayle.

• Robert Card

• Maine mass shooting

• gun control

• assault weapons ban

• mental health

• Second Amendment

• Lone Wolf attacks

• high capacity magazines

• Safe gun storage rules

• universal background checks

• gun manufacturer liability

• Silencer

• Maine National Guard

• welfare check

• mental health crisis

• Yellow Flag Law