The movement of a decade ago to dismantle state hospital programs for the mentally ill and to tighten civil commitment procedures to make involuntary commitment of an adult more difficult, have made the care and safety of those persons more difficult as well. The theory behind the disbursement of persons with mental illnesses into the community was that advances in psychotropic drugs had made physical confinement unnecessary. This is America, was the thought. We don't lock people away because they are different. But we do lock people away who are dangerous, either to themselves or others.
Police officers have every right to defend themselves.
When someone points a weapon, whether it's found later to be loaded or not, there's the rightful assumption that it's meant to harm. If, as implied in the original plan to release persons with mental illnesses into community settings, they take the prescribed medications that control their illness, there should be no reason for physical confinement. Millions of people function normally with the aid of prescribed medication that controls what experts have come to learn is a basic malfunctioning of the brain. It should be regarded no differently than someone who takes medication to control a heart problem. You take the meds, you keep the problem under control.