Comment by colechristensen
1 day ago
If I saw someone's diary for whatever reason and their most recent entry was about getting a gun and shooting someone they knew, I'd report it to the police too.
An arrest isn't a conviction but this kind of fantasizing in any manner is probable cause for an arrest and grounds for a trial.
Arguably there should be a reporting duty for these kinds of thing.
I wish more people making threats got this treatment.
"for whatever reason" is the hard part. Would you make a habit of breaking into houses and reading they're diaries. If someone committed a crime how would feel if they accused you have being an accessory because you didn't break into the persons house to look at their diary?
What if you get a peek at the diary of someone you actually know. You've know them for 20 years and they've never done anything violent in all that time - just the opposite in fact. The entry says they got a gun but you have no evidence of that other then the words in the diary. Do you call the police? Plot twist it's your Mom - do you still call the police?