Police didn’t search database showing Calif. shooter had bought guns

[seveneyes]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/police-didnt-search-database-showing-calif-shooter-had-bought-guns/2014/05/30/59ad5186-e74f-11e3-a86b-362fd5443d19_story.html

With the toughest gun-control regulations in the country, California has a unique, centralized database of gun purchases that law enforcement officers can easily search. It offers precious intelligence about a suspect or other people they may encounter when responding to a call.

But this rare advantage wasn’t enough to help authorities head off the May 23 rampage in Santa Barbara that claimed six victims.

Before a half-dozen sheriff’s deputies knocked on Elliot Rodger’s door last month in response to concerns raised by his mother about his well-being, they could have checked the database and discovered he had bought three 9mm semiautomatic handguns. Several law enforcement officials and legal experts on gun policy said this might have given deputies greater insight into Rodger’s intentions and his capability for doing harm.
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Why make even more rules when we can't even use or follow up on the ones in place? A disgraceful attempt by the authorities in California to prevent this nutcase from doing harm. This happens way too often, and many of us have had to deal with these results of apathy and the refusal to stop people before they harm innocents.

[warrior1]

1. should be manitory.

I thought police did wants and warrant checks on people automatically.

[CanonRay]

2. They're too busy fighting the War on Drugs

Now, if somebody told them he had two pot plants in his house, there'd have been a SWAT team in there.

[seveneyes]

3. It should be the very first thing they look up

One should always establish what a suspect is capable of utilizing in the event of an outburst. It might be a wake up call if the families filed suit against the authorities for not even attempting to do their jobs when they had a chance to maybe stop this tirade of his.

[Jenoch]

4. When the cops visited him he was not a suspect.

It was a welfare check.