Should suspected Maine shooter have had gun after mental health incident this past summer?
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The manhunt continued late Thursday for Robert Card, the suspected attacker in mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine that killed at least 18 people the night before.
Just Thursday, we learned Card, 40, was taken by police for an evaluation after acting "erratically" at the United States Military Academy West Point over the summer.
CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey spoke Thursday with national and local gun experts about what should have happened following that incident.
There really was not enough information Thursday afternoon to make a judgment on what happened in the case. But experts said that the mental health incident over the summer could have led to him being stripped of Card's ability to own a gun - but not necessarily.
According to a U.S. Army spokesperson, Card enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2002 - and doesn't have any combat deployments.
After Card's reported erratic behavior in July, New York State Police took Card to an Army hospital at West Point to be evaluated.
The New York Army National Guard would not comment further on that investigation Thursday. Many have been left with the question -- did Card have the gun with which he is seen in surveillance photos legally?
"We will be reviewing that information as we go forward, but that's not an answer we're prepared to give today," Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck said when asked that question.
Lindsay Nichols -- federal policy director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence -- explained that while we don't know enough about this specific case, there is a certain threshold required to strip someone who has been involuntarily committed of their weapon.
"If they are released before that time or at the hearing – then the court says, 'This person doesn't need to be committed, and they're released - they don't lose their eligibility to possess," Nichols said.
Nichols also pointed to Maine's so-called "yellow flag laws." Unlike red flag laws like the one in effect in Illinois, yellow flag laws require a medical opinion - in addition to a court order based on sworn testimony from a police officer, family member, or others, attesting that someone should not have access to guns.
"And for that reason, it's much more difficult to use the law to protect public safety," Nichols said.
Former Illinois state senator and chair of One Aim Illinois Dan Kotowski explained that Illinois is one of 22 states with red flag laws that make it easier to raise concerns.
"What matters is the safety of the general public," said former Illinois
But Kotowski said that in Illinois, there is a lack of education on who should be reporting concerns to the state and law enforcement.
"The challenge we face in the state of Illinois and in the country - we only have about 15 percent of the mental health data that should exist in the national instant check system," Kotowski said.
Nichols explained that the state of Maine does not require a permit to carry guns. The state also does not ban high-capacity magazines.
