OPINION:
We’ve seen this coming for years, and it finally has arrived. The attempted assassin of President Ronald Reagan, John Hinckley Jr., will be released from all court supervision in June 2022 if he continues to follow the existing rules until that time.
The Associated Press reports, “Since Hinckley moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, from a Washington hospital in 2016, court-imposed restrictions have required doctors and therapists to oversee his psychiatric medication and therapy. Mr. Hinckley has been barred from having a gun. And he can’t contact Mr. Reagan’s children, other victims or their families, or actress Jodie Foster, who he was obsessed with at the time of the 1981 shooting.”
He moved to Williamsburg to live with his mother, who died in July of this year. He has since left the home he shared with her. The government is not communicating with the public where Mr. Reagan’s attempted assassin lives now. This release from oversight means none of the parameters controlling his life and behavior will remain.
We are also assured that Mr. Hinckley has shown no signs of mental illness in 20 years. Considering the medication and parameters to which he’s been subjected, that’s like crowing a child molester hasn’t repeated his crime while in prison. As this columnist noted several years ago in these pages, Mr. Hinckley’s behavior remains a concern for many raising red flags throughout the time we’ve been told he’s fine, just fine.
I reported at the time about an occurrence during the original granted “expanded conditions” period from The Washingtonian: “When he did venture out, there were breaches and deceptions. In 2011, Hinckley repeatedly went to a Barnes & Noble when he was supposed to be at the movies. On one occasion, Secret Service agents watched as he stood before a shelf of books about presidential assassinations, including an account of the moment he severely wounded Reagan and press secretary James Brady… An agent said the scene gave him goosebumps.”
As disturbing, I warned about how the Daily Mail reported in 2009, 28 years after the attempted assassination, that Mr. Hinckley was obsessing over his hospital dentist, was researching her on the Internet, and lied about it when confronted. He also tried to see her by feigning injury.
As you might imagine, one of the restrictions Mr. Hinckley has been living under is never to see Jodie Foster films, pursue or attempt to see her. Yet, 32 years after the attempted assassination, and despite the restrictions, Mr. Hinckley went to a Jodie Foster film. CNN reported, “He is forbidden from contacting Jodie Foster or seeing her movies. That became a problem during one visit home in 2013. Hinckley went to the theater with his brother to see the film ‘Elysium,’ according to notes from one of his therapists. Just a few minutes into the movie, Foster appeared on the screen. Hinckley leaned into his brother and whispered, ‘We have to leave.’”
This wasn’t a mistake. This was a Foster film, and she was billed as its star. Thirty-two years after an assassin attempt driven by his obsession for an actress, there he is, breaking the rules pursuing his trigger for mass violence.
We don’t have to imagine what a freak like this will do with absolutely no oversight. We will find out precisely what happens when this unconditional release from supervision happens.
Mr. Hinckley’s freedom by a Washington establishment that is supposed to keep us safe comes on the heels of a California legal system also determined to unleash murderers among us. The California parole board keeps trying to set free Manson family convicted murderers. That has only been stopped by governors’ denials. But that is not enough in a system infected with leftist nihilism. The California parole board is now recommending the release of a successful presidential assassin, Sirhan Sirhan. The fate of Robert F. Kennedy’s murderer is now in the hands of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Two of Mr. Kennedy’s family members have agreed with the parole board’s decision everyone else has made it clear there appalled at the suggestion, including his widow Ethel. Considering his apparent contempt for the average person, we can only hope that the Kennedy family’s opinion matters to Gavin Newsom.
Across the board in our great country, the cancer of liberal nihilism is impacting all of us. The release of mass murderers, assassins of presidents, local miscreants, gang members, and even murderers under cancerous “bail reform” laws sends a message that the system is no longer interested in justice, law and order, or keeping the normals safe.
Violent offenders arrested and released, roaming the streets with no real repercussion, sends a message that society believes it should be punished. The lackadaisical attitude toward Hickley, Van Houten, or Sirhan, are significant symptoms of cancer ruining lives every day in every city.
It is what the sick left wants and is not shy in advocating. The reality is, no one else wants this garbage, and those who do advocate for defunding the police and assail the rule of law in general, usually find a way to protect themselves from the result. Their private security hired guns, and homes in the hills protected by walls tell you everything you need to know about the intention of today’s political class.
• Tammy Bruce, the author, host at Fox Nation, and contributor at Fox News, is a radio talk-show host.
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