Republican candidate Joe Buck debates Democratic candidate Michael Bennet on Social Security, October 2010.
Let the wild speculation and finger pointing begin:
Federal authorities have arrested a man accused of repeatedly making threats to Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet's staff.
The most recent threats allegedly came on Thursday, two days before a gunman in Arizona killed six people and wounded 14 others, including a congresswoman.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, John Troy Davis called Bennet's Denver office Thursday upset over his social security benefits and during the call said he, "may go to terrorism." He also allegedly said, "To get your attention, I will go down there and set fire to the perimeter," according to the affidavit.
During a call several days earlier, Davis, who lives in the metro area, told another Bennet staffer, "I'm just going to come down there and shoot you all," while complaining about social security benefits, according to the affidavit.
"Davis is well-known to the Senator's office as he has called frequently to complain about such benefits," the affidavit states.
During one call, according to the affidavit, Davis told a staffer, "I'm a schizophrenic and I need help." Bennet's staff had previously set up a hearing regarding Davis's Social Security benefits, but Davis did not attend, according to the affidavit.
Let me just say again that the particulars of Davis' voter registration card is less important than the lack of access to mental health resources and apparent ready access to guns. This is a man who begged for help, and although Bennet did what he could do (according to this article), perhaps if we as a country valued mental health resources more than tax cuts for millionaire and billionaires, we'd see less of these kinds of incidents.
