>> welcome to al jazeera. i'm stephanie sy. here are your headlines. in light of the deadly attacks at the washington navy yard, more is known about the shooter aaron alexis who shot and killed a dozen people. about a month ago alexis complained that he had been hearing voices, he had been treated for a series of mental problems. lawyers of the north carolina police officer accused of shooting and killing an african american man who is trying to get help after a car accident say he was justified.

officer randall carrick said he was justified. farrell played football for florida a&m before moving to north carolina. according to aaa, gas prices have averaged over $4 a gallon, that has never been done before. the vercase mansion was sold, gianni vercase was killed in 1997. that's your headlines

history of mental illness leaves a country in shock after the massacre at washington's navy yard. in the past few years there have been mass murders. also as america weighs intervention in syria, is there a separate civil war now raging, this one within the ranks of assad's opponents. how are al-qaeda and other extremists affecting the fight against syria's governments. plus e-cigarettes have become a billion dollar business, and is this just another way to target kids? welcome to consider this. we begin with the navy yard shooter. as authorities check in the background of aaron alexis. reports on the details of troubled history that are starting to emerge.

>> flags flew at behalf mass, and another familiar scene in america. those gunned down by a lone man on a bloody rampage. more questions are left than answers. could stronger gun control laws or better mental illness help against the carnage. >> as such with no other suspects at large the investigation has moved into a phase of evidentiary recovery and information gathering. >> alexis did suffer recently from extreme paranoia and delusions and was treated for mental health issues. he also had a haste of trouble with the police. a police report from seattle in 2004 details alexis' self described anger-fueled blackout that caused him to shoot the rear tires of a vehicle with a .45-caliber vehicle.

he was arrested in 2008 after an altercation in a nightclub for disorderly conduct. in 2010 fort worth, texas, he was arrested for firing a gun into an apartment. it others had raised red flags before their killing sprees. dr. janice orlowsk i, from the hospital where some of the gun victims were treated made this plea. >> there is something won wronge when we have multiple shootings, there is something wrong. we have to work together to get rid of it. >> reporter: al jazeera, new york. >> joining me from washington, d.c. dr. allen li litman director of the study of

violence and with me dr. michael stone clinical psycho analytic training and research. dr. litman, let's start with you. we learn in the last 24 hours along with his anger and guns, he suffered from paranoia. he was in newport, rhode island and had an encounter with police at his motel. he said he heard voices speaking to him through the wall, floor and ceiling and people were sending vibrations through his body but he claimed to have no history of mental illness and he wanted to file a harassment claim against the voices. the police wrote, no further action required although they did fax a copy of the report to the police. he should not be allowed to purchase a gun, which is exactly what he did a couple of days later. how did this happen?

>> alexis is with a long history of individuals who have reported psychotic phenomena , including laug lahne, lanza and others before. most people with mental illness are not violent and less violent and are more likely to be victorvictimof violence. the small group of individuals, virtually all of them have suffered from a serious untreated or under treated mental illness. and when we combine that, antonio, with the remarkably and certainly planned lax gun laws that allow these individuals in

the height of their psychosis and paranoia to get easy access to weapons we create a circumstance where these in fact, mostly unnecessary mass shootings become much more likely. what we need to do is to, among many things, institute a true system of universal background checks, a term that has been repeated so much that it almost loses its meaning but it's incredibly important. if an individual who is psychotic filled with delusions and believing as we heard from alexis, that people are out to get them can with great ease get their hands on a weapon they can move in the midst of their impairment get their hands on a weapon of mass destruction. if it is the case that we have laws that although we have checks do not have even computer

adequate reports require the fbi to destroy their records each day every 24 hours, that allow individuals to buy guns over the internet or at gun shows from unlicensed dealers, without any kind of background check whatsoever, then the background check system is so filled with intentional holes that it's essentially a farce. people who have psychotic psychotic mental illnesses, if they have a significant barrier and one of time will often instead have the opportunity for treatment, that will prevent many of these crimes. without that the gap between full-blown psychosis and full-blown tragedy is too thin. this is what we must face. >> well doctor, talking about psychosis and talking about erratic behavior, we saw what happened in rhode island. he's talking about voices.

he wants to file harassment claims against those voices. shouldn't police taken a more active response than something more proactive under these circumstances? it seems many of these mass shooters have sent very strong signals about their problems. >> you make a very good point. >> dr. stone, yes, they should. furthermore it's not quite correct to say that the mentally ill are less violent. they're five times more violent than the general population, but the figures are that perhaps 1% of the entire general population are at some point going to commit a violent crime, and it rises 4% to 6% those who are schizophrenic and bipolar, which means that many of the psychotic people don't have pre-disposition-- >> to make it clear, what i'm referring to is the fact that most people with psychotic

illnesses despite the perception which has been nurtured by the nra, as you know, are not violent. and it is just this smaller group of individuals who have been associated with to an extreme degree with these mass shootings as seen in the secret service report. that's undeniable. >> i think it is denial to a certain extent. in my study of 300 mass murderers about who a considerable amount is known in contrast to the 1300 other ones where there are only newspaper clippings. if you look at the ones in the united states where there is the vast majority of people committing mass murder, probably 25%, in my own series, 22% have a psychosis. in other words, this man apparently has paranoid schizophrenia. there are others who have paranoid personalties and people

talk about think pre-disposition to blow up when they are fired from a job, lose a sweetheart, wife walks out, they're individuals who old grudges. >> please, paranoid personalities, as you know, is one of the most difficult disorders to treat because the individual is in the grip of a fixed and rigid delusion. so we really don't want to be distinguishing from psychotic disorders, number one. number two, it is certainly the case that while your research may indicate otherwise, multiple studies including the work of the united states secret service has revealed, a, virtually without exception the individuals who have committed these mass crimes have been either with an untreated mental illness or an under treated mental illness, and there has

been some kind of triggering event that has proceeded the illness. more over getting to antonio's point. in virtually every one of these cases as we saw with juried lafner's extensive postings on the airport and as with columbine, individuals announce in some form that they intend to commit the act. and raise-- >> that raises the question, can we preempt these acts. >> that again, that is my question. once these signs are out there, what can psychiatrists do? if he apparently went to the veteran's hospital and asked for help with some of this, where does the line get drawn between privacy and the public safety? dr. stone? >> well, the fact that he had

talked about these things to people in positions of authority meant that they ought to have had and really enjoyed the privilege of having him committed involuntarily to a hospital. the degree to which he could have benefited from treatment is another matter entirely. but at least they could have kept him safely away from the public for some length of time. there are many, many problems in dealing with particularly paranoid persons, whether they're paranoid permanent were not psychotic, or those who are psychotic, they tend to reject therapy and help because they feel they don't accept other people's opinions, etc. they're extremely difficult to treat. if they have the psychosis in which medication would be in order to prescribe what often happens they are then released,

they take it for a little bit of time. don't like the effects and leave it in the draw. >> yet again you have a guy who was able to buy a gun. he was also able to maintain his secret clearance. we look at federal gun laws. they banned 36 categories that prevent people from purchasing you arms, , and it just seems to me that that list should be expanded, and the second you start talking about psychosis, you start talking about trying to sue people, the voices in your head, something should be done to keep them fro allowing them to buy guns. >> we have 300 million guns, a little bit less in the way of guns than there are people.

to imagine that people cannot get guns illegally even if they're prevented by law is ridiculous. they're going to be able to get guns. the one who is are fixed-- >> aside from the guns this guy had a secret clearance. he had access to security. >> h that was a failure in the system. he should not have been able to get guns. he should have been locked up. but mafiosi, gangsters, they're always able to get a gun. >> with what about that question that i just asked. were there so many indications this man was not only allowed to buy guns but he was allowed to keep secret clearance. do doctors need to share this information? >> the answer to your point is. we can have lists of 36 or 360 categories, however, even though we can draw very sharp line

between the neurosis and psychosis, including paranoid disorder, which is psychotic but not personality disorder. but if we have a system that allows those individuals to ea easily purchase those guns, via internet, via unlicensed dealers at gun shows, and if we have a system that does not allow them to be actually be checked in the background check then the simple iis a farce. this is why the johns hopkins summit and harvard research center and many other very esteemed and long-lasting institutes of public policies have focused on the universal background check in all of its forms to prevent these sorts of crimes. there is no reason to split hairs about diagnoses. the individuals who commit these crimes in the united states are buy and large individuals with severe mental disorders and once

again we're seeing this begin to unroll. we want to get all the facts with alexis. if we try to pull those small needles out of a large hay tack haystack of mental illness we're unlikely to succeed. but if we have strong background checks we can prevent those individuals from getting the guns to prevent them from committing their delusional violent crimes. >> thanthank you for participann this discussion tonight. >> coming up next. is syria seeing another civil war, this time among the opposition forces? why is al-qaeda on its side of the war and how is it packeting impacting our side.

>> just to be able to defend the title for once will be awesome, and i've done so well here the past few times i've played, getting to the semis or finals. it's been really, really exciting. i'm happy that i've been able to consistently do well here. >> australian cricket captain michael clarke led his team to victory against england, scoring his first tonne. england were bowled out for 227 in pursuit of australia score of 315/7. >> and now take a look at this young man who has more than a few expectations to live up to. this is

argen tendulkar son of sachi, in his father the highest run scorer.

on august 20th, al jazeera america introduced a new voice in journalism. >> good evening everyone, welcome to al jazeera. >> usa today says: >> ...writes the columbia journalism review. and the daily beast says: >> quality journalists once again on the air

is a beautiful thing to behold. >> al jazeera america, there's more to it. >> your new miss america is... miss new york! [ cheering ] >> miss new york, nina davuluri!

[♪ music ] >> when nina davuluri won this year's 2014 miss america competition, she game the first won of indian origin to take the crown. with a degree in brain behavior and cognitive science she's currently applying to medical school. immediately after her crowning astounding racist tweets surfaced on the weapon. >> how does the "f" does a foreigner win miss america. she is an arab. miss new york is an indian. so what should have been the moment celebrating our diversity be derailed by a racist reaction. joining us is journalist sheila and alexis , great to have you both here. before nina could even celebrate all this she had to deal with

this racist reaction. let's hear what she said. >> it's an unfortunate situation but for every one negative tweet or comment, there were dozens of positive words of encouragement and videos and that's what's it's all about. i'm so honored to have this opportunity, and really bring about a conversation to not really open a discussion about race but cultural competency. that's what it's about. >> very classy in her response. she could have been very upset. were you surprised as an indian-american about the of public bigotry. >> i was surprised that media chose to focus on that, instead of what she accomplished, a how significant a person of indian origin won this award for the first time. >> don't you think it's fair to be surprised in this day and age t by that reaction?

>> it is surprised. when i looked at facebook on monday morning and so many people sharing an article that was an collection of these tweets saying, you know, i feel so dismayed ma this person won, and that's a great thing, and so many people are reacting like this. there is a choice to focus on things that are sensational rather than talking about this person's accomplishments and many other things that could have been brought to the conversation besides the racist comments that are better there. >> and the reality is, today, actually marks 30 years since vanessa williams became the first black miss america. i think between her and now with nina, it's ten women of color who have won miss america. why in the world are we having this discussion? >> we're also 50 years past--we just celebrated the march on washington. we made this incredible progress around race relations and what

we consider to be our own eg egotarian pulled forth but we still hol hold these biases. with the world of certainly media and technology it's all coming to forefront. >> publicly. people's names are a lot of these tweets. >> i completely agree with that. there was a tweet about miss kansas because she has tattoos, she hunts and she served in the army. >> blond, blue-eyed. >> that was the explicit thing. she's white. america. that's what that was all about. it's true that social media gives these platforms to put these ideas forth and have it catch on on the internet in ways that was not possible 30 years ago when vanessa williams won. >> but nina davuluri is one of the most gorgeous women on earth. >> beautiful and

accomplished. >> she's fantastic. the idea that we're just seeing skin color in a way that completely--also challenges even what we understand skin color to mean. we're projecting all these things on to her. >> i read some of the names of people who put these tweets on. they're clearly the di descent can'ts of irish, polish, who themselves were discriminated against a few generations ago. one of the tweets from someone who had ethnic last name p do you not have to be an american to be miss america? how does this happen? this young woman successful. they are parents are successful. and she was born in america. >> increasingly becoming minority,-- >> more babies of minority races are being born today. >> exactly. exactly.

and i think that there is a consideration of the actual demographics of this country, and the fact that things are changing. this is not the same competition, this is not the same country it was 30 or 40 years ago. >> she's not the only one. look at sebastian della crews. he's also on america's got talent. [ "star-spangled banner" ] >> beautiful voice. had a similar negative reaction, and racist twitter patrols came to the attack. why do they have this illegal immigrant singing the national anthem. that makes it unamerican. there is an 11-year-old mexican boy singing the national anthem. he's probably illegal.

how do we changes this. >> most americans are fundamentally good people. they value egalta rian. >> and we'll say there was an overwhelming reaction to those tweets. >> yes, we have to honor the changing time. you're right to point out that the changing demographics in this country, but at the same time we have to set he boundaries about what is appropriate and what is not, and how we can understand the context of what is happening with respect to race. in some ways the power--in some ways certain constituencies in this country have tried to say even noticing race is racist at this point, right? >> well, we have social media reaction. let's go to hermela aragawi . >> in both sebastian and then in

a's case. many closed their accounts. is there a bit of calling out people who post these racist comments? >> you know, i think that if it makes them realize that what they're saying is something that is racist and biased. who are these people. they may be 14-year-old people. >> the question of whether fear of the other and racism is something that is inherent in people everywhere in the world. there was an interesting reaction in india where people said that nina never would have been able to win miss india because she's too dark skinned. and we look at brazil, there has never been a miss brazil and virtually

no black woman competes in miss brazil. >> our brains have been programmed. if you see a white hand selling an i pod. and the black hand sel or hand of color selling an ipod. it means that being of color brings fear. >> and in places like india, brazil and peru in other cases it's a huge business. and i think that it's great that you have a woman who is clearly proud of who she is, she's proud of her skin, proud of her heritage, and she's not making any apologies of what people in india might be saying or what people here might be saying.

>> or showing pictures of the bollywood dance. let's listen to something else she had to say before we go. >> unfortunately, we don't have it. but she was very--we do. let's live to it. >> i'm, you know, average girl next door, and the way i've always sown it miss america has always been known as the girl next door. but the girl next door is evolving. she's not who she was ten years ago and she's not going to be the same person ten years down the road. >> isn't she the girl we would like to have next door? >> i want her to be my friend. >> pew research center did a survey searching americans, and only 10% of them said race was a major problem to them. to me that says that hopefully this is not the majority of people's experiences. hopefully we're moving in the right direction and seeing mena

nina being crowned. >> i agree. i don't think it's the majority. it's the minority, and they're ignorant enough with confusing her to be arab, not that there is anything wrong with being an arab. now i'm calling you nina, sheila. >> we got to go. thank you both. coming up, forbes releases it's annual richest people in america. how rich are they? we'll tell you.

sachin asked the indian media not to put too much pleasure pressure on the teenager. >> my son started his career. it's a humble request if he can live his life like a normal 14-year-old without thinking of anything other than falling in love with the sport. (applause) >> some footsteps to follow in. more on the website. check it out. all the details. get in touch with us on twitter and facebook. plenty more from me later, but that is the sport for now. >> thank you. stay with us on al jazeera. another full bulletin of news is ahead with julie mcdonald, who

will be in london for us. for now, goodbye. >> today's data dive climbs the forbes 400, the richest people in the america.

bill gates tops the list at $782 billion. he's the youngest person in the top ten and claimed the title of the world's richest person. gates is so rich his fortune would rank in 64th on the world banks list of countries by gdp. thathat is higher than luxembou. war len buffet at $58.5 billion. but it's $500 million to you and me. larry ellison is third at $41 billion. to get a sense of how rich they are, the national football league is the most financially successful sports league in the world. according to "forbes" magazine, the combined net worth of all 32 nfl families is $37.295 billion. gates, buffet and ellison

easily beat all teams combined. most of the top ten richest are a family affair. the koch brothers and charles and david tied at fourth at $36 billion each. combined this would match gates at $72 billion. the walton family takes up lots six through nine. walmart has held them to $136 billion. and don't feel bad for new york mayor michael bloomberg as he leaves office. he comes in at 10th at $31 billion. david rockefeller senior is the oldest person on the list at 98. youngers are mark zuckerberg and dustin moskovitz. they're 29. zuckerberg is worth $19 billion. and moskovitz at $5.2 billion. the average net worth, $5 billion up from last year. the poorest on the list is ridiculous

ly wealthy worth $1.3 billion. coming up, e-cigarettes have become a multi billion business but should they be marketed that's all i have an real money. victoria azarenko >> every sunday night al jazeera america presents

>> e - cigarettes are called a healthy ier then cigarette. this do not include tar or other additives that make smoking so dangerous. but there are questions about what is in them. sales have shot up between $1 billion to $1.7 billion this year. reports are they will overtake traditional cigarette sales, those reach $80 billion every year. just how safe are e-cigarettes and how safe are they for minors.

thank you both for joining us. carl, i want to start with you. e-cigarettes do still deliver nicotine which is addictive and have health risks. why should e-cigarettes not be under the sill regulations that regular cigarettes have. >> they should be regulated in various ways. my organization supports, for example, bans on sales to minors. but we shouldn't confuse the effects of e-cigarettes to cigarettes. we're talking about a product 99% less harm ful. certainly regulation is a good idea, the right regulation, we shouldn't be thinking of them as at all similar to cigarettes in

terms of their impact on public health . >> as carl says aren't e-cigarettes healthier, and would it help some people get off their addiction of cigarettes. is that not a good thing. >> i like to say that e-cigarettes are less dangerous than cigarettes. cigarettes are by far the most dangerous product on the market. to say that she's less dangerous it's less dangerous is like saying jumping out the fifth story of a building is less dangerous than jumping out of the 50th story. if kids smoke cigarettes or take nicotine through e- cigarettes or other forms of tobacco it changes their brain development in ways that they never recover from.

while dr. phil lips i dr. phillips is right, they still deliver forma foremall da hide and other compounds. the nicotine itself could have adverse health evacuates much in effects. >> it can increase your heart rate. your blood pressure can go up. it can cause nausea and diarrhea and it's addictive. but we've got caffeine out there, alcohol, caffeine perfectly available to children. why--why would e-cigarettes be worse? >> because nicotine is a way more addictive drug than caffeine.

in 1988 the attorney general said that nicotine was an addictive drug. it mimics in your brain nerve cells communicate with. when you put nicotine in your brain. changes the cells in your brain and the chemistry of your brain in ways that never totally reverse. the other thing which you said earlier which i don't think is true is that e-cigarettes help people from smoking. there are two population level studies of people using e-cigarettes to quit smoking. one shows that they don't work. and the other shows that people trying to quit e-cigarettes actually do worse than those who aren't using them. while e-cigarettes are dangerous than cigarettes and less polluting, they're exposing people to toxic chemicals and they're still polluting the air around people who are using th them. >> carl, your response to the

pollution and on whether the e-cigarettes can help people get off cigarettes? >> yeah, there is no question that e-cigarettes help people get off cigarettes. there are hundreds of thousands of americans over a million people worldwide who have quit smoking using e-cigarettes. the large majority of these when asked about their experience to quit spoking report every other method to quit smoking, they were able to quit. in terms of the risks, you mentioned caffeine. that's the perfect analogy. nicotine-absent smoke is very similar to caffeine. it's not all that more difficult to quit nicotine than caffeine. but people who switch to

e-cigarettes typically find they can take them or leave them after they've quit smoking for a while and they're using e-cigarettes. it's a different experience. they keep using e-cigarettes because they know it's low risk. it makes them happier and it improves their lives to use this em. all in all it seems like an upside on every side. in terms of the chemistry and exposures, we recently sponsored a systemic review by a professor in philadelphia. nine thousand observations from studies and concluded there was no reason to believe that the chemicals posed any risk. the nicotine speeds up your heart that creates minor risk. that's why it's 99% less harmful than smoking rather than 100 hers

less harmful of smoking. it's basically in terms of abstinence in terms of total risk. let's get reaction. >> thanks, antonio. on twitter says, it's good to see e-cigs stories. now how do you nicotine. it's still an addiction. what do you say to that? >> i mean, i don't understand where dr. phil lips is getting his data. there are peer-reviewed studies of how cigarettes help people quit smoking in the population level and neither one of them actually shows that they help people quit. it may be some people use them and they do better, but what these big studies show is that for everybody that an e-cigarette might help quit there is one person or maybe one

more person who keeps from quitting. the real problem with e-cigarettes which we haven't talked about at all is what called dual use. most people who are using e-cigarettes are still smoking convention al cigarettes at the tame at the same time. >> there is the concern of the appeal to children because of flavors being added in the e-cigarettes. we've run out of time to address that further. i appreciate the discussion, this is a changing industry, and we'll see how it develops. i appreciate you both being with us tonight. the show may be over but the conversation continues on our website. www.aljazeera.com/consider this or on our facebook or google plus pages and you can also find us on twitter. we'll see you next time.

>> hello, i am stephanie sy. these are some of the stories we are following right now. new insights are emerging about the navy yard gunman. aarone lexus, apparently had a troubling history of mental illness and everybody complained of hearing voice us. the difficult clean up is underway in colorado. homeowners across the state are trying to pick you want pieces after terrible flooding ruined homes and lives. violence in the philippines may be coming to a head. government force as peer to be gaining the upper hand on muslim rebels who took hundreds of people hostage. and african art is booming. we'll tell you why the surprising export has become all the