Whenever a mass shooting occurs, such as the attack Sept. 16 at the Navy Yard in Washington, national attention quickly turns to issues of gun control and greater restrictions on firearms access for people with histories of mental illness. That conversation needs to be ongoing and lead to real changes.

But the Navy Yard case adds a new dimension to an already complicated picture. Shooter Aaron Alexis not only had a history of mental illness but also a police-documented record of violent outbursts. At least two of those cases involved guns.

When federal authorities investigated Alexis’ background for the secret-level security clearance required for his Navy contracting work, somehow those clear warning signs got ignored or expunged from his record.

A particularly troubling incident in 2004 involved Alexis angrily shooting out the tires of a construction worker’s vehicle during a dispute in Seattle. A police arrest for that incident showed up in an FBI background search for Alexis’ security clearance in 2007. It was flagged for review when the FBI forwarded his records to the agency that approves the clearances.

By the time his records reached the Navy, the shooting somehow got downgraded, with the report describing Alexis only as having “deflated the tires on a construction worker’s vehicle.” He lied during follow-up questioning, and nobody caught on.

That should worry all Americans. Someone consciously downgraded the seriousness of Alexis’ actions and helped initiate the chain of oversight lapses that allowed him to launch his Navy Yard rampage and kill 12 people.

Even worse, the security clearance might have factored into background checks when Alexis purchased firearms, including the shotgun he used at the Navy Yard.

The clearance system, which focuses primarily on vetting for spies or potential disloyalty, is in need of an overhaul to improve the updating of records. The system failed to identify markers pointing toward instability in the background of Army Maj. Nidal Hasan before he opened fire at Fort Hood and killed 13.

Failures like these have cost far too many lives. And with the nation’s security at potentially grave risk, there must be no slip in the level of accuracy and up-to-date thoroughness for these background searches. It’s not just a slip-up within one agency but the entire clearance procedure that seems due for a top-to-bottom vetting.

— Dallas Morning News

What an ending to the Scooter Store.

At one time, the Texas-based Scooter Store had 2,400 employees with national distribution.

Its TV advertisements targeted the elderly and infirm, promising mobility and freedom — all covered by Medicare.

But mired in bankruptcy, the subject of a United States Department of Justice probe likely related to potential Medicare and Medicaid fraud, the Scooter Store is closing.

Now, the Scooter Store is “furloughing” its remaining employees and liquidating its assets.

A recent filing in the company’s bankruptcy case states that former Scooter Store top executives are targets of the Justice Department investigation.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also sent the company a letter saying it was being cut off from Medicare business.

This move was necessary.

An independent auditor last year found the Scooter Store received between $46.8 million and $87.7 million in Medicare overpayments.

After the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services threatened to cut the Scooter Store out of federal health programs, it agreed to repay $19.5 million — the amount The Scooter Store believed it received in overpayments.

Still, the OIG found the failure to immediately refund the overpayments breached a 2007 “corporate integrity agreement.”

In its ads, The Scooter Store sold the infirm, elderly and vulnerable the possibility of mechanized freedom and mobility. But taxpayers were overcharged.

The Justice Department probe continues, of course. The Scooter Store does not.

— San Antonio (Texas) Express