Institutions, not just individuals, share responsibility for Lewiston shooting

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Attorneys who represent families of Lewiston shooting victims have said that two different Army reports, one from the Army Reserve and one from the Army’s inspector general, are “ conflicting .” Though perhaps not for the exact same reasons, we also find these two reports to be fundamentally in conflict.

Both of these probes reviewed the horrific mass shooting carried out by Army reservist Robert Card II, who killed 18 people and wounded 13 in Lewiston last October. While the Army Reserve’s report outlines a series of failures before the shooting, and states that three officers have faced administrative action, the inspector general’s report concludes that Card “is singularly responsible for the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine.”

Of course Card bears the primary responsibility for this heinous act. But the idea that he is solely responsible amid a sea of other individual and institutional failures runs counter to the factual record that has been amassed over months of various investigations — including the one conducted by the Army Reserve.

It is not factually accurate or sufficient for any official from any institution that interacted with Card to place the blame solely on him. The repeated warning signs and repeated failures to act on and communicate about them speak to multiple shortcomings of law and policy. It is not enough to say that Card alone is to blame, or even to say that some policies and procedures should be updated as the Army reports discuss.

We will say it once more: This situation calls for changes in law, particularly around how the military interacts with state yellow and red flag laws. Sen. Susan Collins has been particularly focused on this important issue, and remains so after the recent reports.

“In my view, the findings of the investigations also establish that more could have been done to trigger Maine’s Yellow Flag law, which would have led to a court ruling, after an assessment by a medical practitioner, on whether Mr. Card should have been separated from his personal weapons,” Collins said in a statement this week.

Maine’s entire congressional delegation worked to ensure comprehensive review of the Lewiston shooting. And Collins, Sen. Angus King, Rep. Chellie Pingree and Rep. Jared Golden have now joined together again to call on the Department of Defense to immediately implement the recommendations contained in these two reviews. Those recommendations include policy changes like updating the Psychological Health Program Standard Operating Procedures and expanding the Army Suicide Prevention Program.

“The U.S. Army Reserve Command’s AR 15-6 investigation and the U.S. Army Inspector General’s subsequent review identified multiple recommendations that — if followed — will benefit the Department of Defense as it provides care for service members,” the Maine delegation wrote to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. “While we continue to press for change, we feel a sense of frustration because, truthfully, recommendations are nothing without action.”

The senators and representatives are absolutely right that action is needed. And we continue to believe that, in addition to procedural action from the military, legislative action is also necessary to ensure that various military, law enforcement and health care systems are communicating and acting as they need to to protect public safety.

“Congress also has a role to play,” Collins continued in her recent statement. “I am working on legislation, joined by Senator King and informed by the findings in these reports, that would direct the military to fully utilize state crisis intervention programs to help prevent future tragedies like this one, while also protecting the Second Amendment and due process rights of all of our service members.”

Collins added that, “While nothing we can do will bring back the lives lost in Lewiston, we can — and must — work together to help prevent future shootings.” She and the entire Maine delegation are right that continued action is needed. This is the attitude that must prevail.

In order to prevent future shootings, it is not enough to blame individuals. Institutional change is also needed.