A wife nags her husband to fix the leaky roof. The husband asks why
for it is sunny and not leaking. Then the rain comes and the roof leaks
the wife nags again and the reply is I can not for it is raining outside.

While I am a gun owner and oppose all efforts to further restrict our
Second Amendment right I do not think attempting to use timing to muzzle
our opponents accomplishes much.

Your later point is 100% square on!

Nick, I thought my piece was respectful. I focused on the findings from the report from the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which I would urge you and others to read. A dialogue about the public safety threat posed by guns, regardless of the timing, is long overdue. As to the issue of whether the incident in Crandon represents a problem of easy access to guns: It absolutely does. The law enforcement agencies that hired the shooter need to be asking themselves why they provided a gun to someone who would commit multiple murders after being dumped by a girlfriend and called a name. Bottom line: Too many of the wrong people have access to guns in our country, and as a result, a lot of people are getting killed.

Michael,

The law enforcement agencies that hired the shooter need to be
asking themselves why they provided a gun to someone who would commit
multiple murders after being dumped by a girlfriend and called a
name.

Pray tell how the Forest County Sheriff's department or any other
agency would be able to answer that question?

Marcus,

Most police departments require a psychological evaluation before hiring someone. Neither Forest County Sheriff's Office nor Crandon's PD did that. Furthermore, a second evaluation is often required before being put on a crisis response team, which was, again, not done. If they had done these evals, it may have raised some red flags.

Actually, Capper, fewer and fewer small-town law enforcement entities are able to run a full battery of psych tests on new hires. Rock County sends recruits to Chicago for testing and then uses them as jail guards before turning them loose on the streets. But if someone applies directly to the towns around here they are often subject only to a background check.

Even tests can only figure out so much. A person may test out perfect
but later on become the star-noir of a national news story.

I do not see Forest, Florence, Langlade counties etc applying a full
battery of psych tests to applicants. I am fairly certain the number
one employer in Forest County is – Forest County. I do not even
see them sending their recruits to another municipality to have that testing
performed.

I realize the practical and financial limitations involved, but was just pointing out that they seemed to trust the "good old boy" a little too much. In my professional and personal life, I have found it to be highly irresponsible to trust someone with that much responsiblility without an apparent modicum of effort to make sure that trust wasn't being misplaced. Grumps example of putting them in the jail for a dry run is a good example of doing some simple evaluations. It wouldn't have the legal standing that a full blown psych exam would, but it would help winnow out the more obvious problems.