A perfect case for more proactive mental health provisions

They caught this guy before he killed anyone but he was heading down that road - from The Seattle Times:

Everett man charged with sending suspicious packages to FBI, Washington, D.C.-area military bases
A 43-year-old Everett-area man was charged Tuesday with mailing packages containing explosive materials to FBI headquarters and to multiple U.S. military and government agencies in the Washington, D.C.-area.

A bit more:

Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies arrested Phan at his mobile home in South Everett on Monday evening after he called 911 “as he would frequently do,” the federal complaint states. Federal agents already were familiar with Phan, who was known to them for repeatedly sending rambling messages to government agencies, including the FBI.

More:

Each package contained a typed letter “with ramblings about neuropsychology, mind control, and other subjects including terrorism,” charging papers say. Each package also allegedly included a bottle or vial with black powder and a GPS device. All of the facilities were shut down and evacuated after receiving the packages, causing “considerable disruption to the operations of the government agencies that received them,” the complaint states.

More:

Deputies took Phan into protective custody under an involuntary mental-health commitment, and confiscated a loaded .357-caliber handgun from Phan’s backpack, the affidavit states.

“Deputies later learned that the defendant was convicted of Second Degree Assault in 1990 and is prohibited by law from possession (of) firearms,” the affidavit added.

A long history of brushes with the law (more cited at the Times article - this is just an excerpt) and nothing effective done. Mental health is something that we used to do but we stopped institutionalizing people in the early 1970's as a consequence of President John F Kennedy's 1963 Community Mental Health Act. We did not have a homeless problem before then. We do now - especially obvious in Seattle. More of my posts here, here, here and here.

This is a problem that will keep getting worse and worse and consume many more taxpayer dollars until we collectively grow a pair and do the right thing (and not the popular thing).