MN School Shooting "That did not happen in this case." [View all]

Drew Evans, the superintendent for the Bureau of Criminal Apprehensions, told reporters that "We need the help of the public and everybody else if there's concerning social media behavior by anybody --or that there's concern in their community--that they are contacting law enforcement so that we can adequately address that in the process" of restricting firearms, according to NBC.

So, if a person does not have a criminal record, the authorities in MN (and elsewhere I assume) are relying on the public and family members to alert them to social media behavior that is "concerning".

This reliance seems to be faulty at best, since it has failed to yield warnings in many mass shooting scenarios. For example, authorities in Uvalde,TX fell back on that too, saying that the individual involved had displayed many warning signs on social media but no one had notified authorities.

There has to be a better way. If nothing else, there should be a well funded public messaging campaign educating the public about how important their role is. It just seems that it's all being left to chance.