Chris Kyle murdered by fellow vet

[SPEMack618]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/navy-seal-c...ry?id=18389238

Chris Kyle was murdered, apparently by a Marine vet with PTSD.

[Yournamehere]

Yeah man, I about flipped out when I heard this. It makes me think a lot about the perception of veterans, both those glorified and ignored, and the effect of celebrity. More evidence to the mental health argument, among others, too.

[funkychinaman]

The suspect could plead not guilty by reason of mental defect/diminished capacity. But has anyone ever successfully argued that PTSD counts as a mental defect/diminished capacity.

[Excalibur]

This does not make a good case for guns. The liberal media is going to rip this apart saying both guns and vets are dangerous.

This is a tragic time. Chris Kyle was a good guy.

[Mazryonh]

Originally Posted by Excalibur

This does not make a good case for guns. The liberal media is going to rip this apart saying both guns and vets are dangerous.

I'm no liberal media pundit, but I'd say this incident proves the following things:

• Guns are not a substitute for, or a good instrument for, psychological therapy. Seriously, what was Chris Kyle thinking about providing loaded and lethal weaponry to people who were emotionally and mentally damaged from their time in the service? Wouldn't it have been far safer and easier just to talk to them and work out their issues with a support group and eventually professionals who are trained in psychotherapy?
  
• Guns do not provide defense against other guns--they only provide counter-offense. In other words, guns don't actually protect against the attacks of other guns, they can only kill or maim the hostile users of other guns to the point that they can no longer attack. This is unlike, say, a quarterstaff, which can defend against melee attacks as well as be used for offense. I'm sure that the victims had their own weapons, but that didn't help them once the aggressor seized the surprise factor. Not very different from the various "I thought he was green" shootings in the field resulting in the deaths of military personnel, actually.
  
• Once again, "Mr. Colt has made all men equal" (or at least men without ballistic body armour). If the aggressor had tried to take the victims on in hand-to-hand I'm sure he would have been overpowered and subdued.
  
• Firing ranges should be more careful as to whom they let in. This is by no means the first among firing range gun murders. I'm interested in seeing whether firing ranges could be made more secure to prevent incidents like these.

Originally Posted by Excalibur

This is a tragic time. Chris Kyle was a good guy.

So was Eddie Ray Routh. Up until he pulled the trigger on Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. Once again, the enemy can be closer than you think.

[Spartan198]

And here's the cherry on top of this whole, sucky situation: I heard from a friend of mine that Jesse Ventura has decided to resume his defamation lawsuit against Kyle and now seeks damages from his family.

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by funkychinaman

The suspect could plead not guilty by reason of mental defect/diminished capacity. But has anyone ever successfully argued that PTSD counts as a mental defect/diminished capacity.

As far as I can tell (from quickly Googling it), the answer is no. That's more-or-less what Robert Bales' attorneys have tried to argue, and prospects aren't looking good for him. PTSD has been used repeatedly by the defense to argue for more lenient sentences, though (guessing it's part of the reason there are so few vets on death row).

Traumatic Brain Injuries are another story, I would think.