FBI agents have been watching him for months….. Finally, Thursday of last week the agency took Christopher Lee Cornell into custody on for attempt to attack a government official. He was arrested after purchasing two semiautomatic weapons and 600 rounds of ammunition. He wanted to commit violent jihad (a war or struggle against unbelievers) and believed the government were his enemies. He wanted to build pipe bombs inside the capitol and planned to fire at any employee who tried to escape the attack. Cornell converted to Islam about 6 to 8 months ago.
Three important issues that need to be considered: 1) mental disorder and mental health treatment 2) terrorist propaganda that benefits from online free speech 3) access to guns and weapons in the U.S.
Does society need to take mental disorder/treatments more seriously? Certainly. It may have been the vulnerability of Cornell that easily let things get to his head, he was convinced the government was evil and his enemies. Though in this case, it is an assumption that Cornell suffered from a mental disorder but there should still be better methods to detain those who suffer from some kind of mental disorder. In this case, the vulnerability of those with mental disorder, they become a tool to those advertising terrorist propaganda. It’s a tough situation because one way or the other, you can’t force someone to partake in treatments without invading their privacy. Another issued that needs to be addressed is the access to guns and weapons in the U.S. The government should not allow anyone to purchase a weapon unless a license to purchase one is provided. Just because someone has a clean criminal record, doesn’t mean they don’t have some kind of disorder that could easily lead to tragedy, sort of like Cornell’s case but luckily, action was taken as soon as things got serious.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ohio-man-arrested-alleged-isis-inspired-attack-us/story?id=28227724
Austin • Feb 25, 2015 at 9:02 am
In my opinion I think that before we sell guns to people they need a full background check including medical records in order to see if they have a mental disorder and criminal history because a majority of news stories today talk about shooters having mental disorders. It annoys me that this has been the excuse that most of the shooters use in cases.
Regan • Feb 9, 2015 at 1:59 pm
The fact that the FBI found him before he went through with his plan gives me a feeling of reassurance in our government; things like this are a a major positive to the technology we have today. I agree that guns should be controlled far more heavily than they are, but even then there will always be a black market.
Rockstar • Feb 9, 2015 at 8:57 am
I think america should not release anyone who tries to do something like that at all. I think this guy going to custody only for 17 years. No they should put him in jail for life, until he suffer there.
dr95mike • Feb 6, 2015 at 9:11 am
Mental disorders are something serious these days. We must take better action on helping those who feel or are mentally disordered. We have been having a lot of school shootings lately and now this guy almost attacks the government. The government it’s self should take serious action on the matter and find a solution to all these shootings/bombings. We will keep losing lives if this keeps up.
Doug • Feb 5, 2015 at 9:17 am
This proves that there are many changes to the interpretation of the bill of rights that should be taken into consideration. when the fathers of the constitution drafted the bill of rights what they meant by every citizen having the right to bear arms, even today’s right to own a gun and often many guns by every citizen is at question. what if they meant that patriot “minutemen” volunteers could form a farmer army to protect their natural rights? We have an American right to wield the gun to fire at attackers invaders. This very idea of just warfare or having a right to fire on another person was later defined by the Geneva conventions which established the rules to warfare. These weren’t conceived until after world war I bu I think the founding fathers had this idea more in mind when they formed the 2nd Amendment.