Mental health screening to disarm people?

[jcn59]

I've worked as a licensed mental health therapist for years, diagnosing and treating adult members of the general public with mood disorders including depression, and bipolar disorders.  There were many others with adjustment disorders and anxiety disorders.  I've seen fewer people with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia as these people have services provided by county programs where I practice. Very few of my client population met the criteria for "danger to self or others" which is a state standard determined by circuit court. 
 
If there was probable cause, the patients were assessed by two different M.D.s, face to face in a hospital environment with their recommendation forwarded to the judge.  The patient was provided an attorney.  Almost none of the people referred to the court were committed to a locked institution for treatment.   I can tell you with absolute certainty that the last thing you want is for this decision to be made by a faceless bureaucrat that has never met the patient.
 
Our outpatient clinics also provided outpatient day treatment treatment services for severely mentally ill children and adolescents.
 
Schools made appropriate referrals for mentally ill children to receive day treatment services.  Our staff did the assessments, & submitted them to the state.  The vast majority of these children  had severe mental health issues and were approved for services.  Starting in 2008 we began to get more denials than approvals.  By 2010, two out of our three day treatment programs were discontinued because the government was not authorizing the children for services.  Severely mentally ill children stopped receiving treatment.  This is what happens when some faceless government bureaucrat who has NEVER even seen the patient has the authority to deny mental health services.   
 
We CANNOT allow the feds to determine who meets arbitary mental health criteria and can own a firearm without due process in a court of law.

[Mikey]

Sort of like obamacare's decision making death squads dovetailing into cuomo's new york safe act, eh........

[tom548]

Many people see what is going on, but a lot of the people in this country just will not believe the truth even if it is staring them in the face .  Until it actually affects them personally they just don't get involved and will not believe it could Happen in this country. By the time it affects them it is to late.
Mental health being decided by a politician makes as much sense as  the Obama's Drone death list.

[Gun Runner]

Maybe all the politicians should have mental health screening before elections. 

Gun Runner

[johnpaulh]

Maybe all the politicians should have mental health screening before elections. 

Gun Runner

Nah!  That's taking one extreme to the other.....from too many nut cases in Washington, to nobody left manning the fort.

[Redtail1949]

Just the beginning, the slightest mark or hint that you had fight,s even 30 years before while in High School, will give them the justification they seek to keep you from owning or purchaseing a firearm.
Loud arguments with a x wife while going thru a divorce will give them what they need to take your guns.
This is just the beginning of the twisting of the laws and they will have plenty of lefty Shrinks to confirm that you should not possess a gun and plenty of Lefty Judges to put you in the pen.
Anything that sounds bad or looks bad on your past will let them abuse the laws and strip you of your rights and possibly your freedom.
It is here now and will get a lot worse before it is stopped by the citizens of this nation.

[coyotejoe]

Remember David Sarti, the  "Doomsday Prepper" who lost his gun rights? All he did was to tell his cardiologist that he had suffered chest pains so sever that "it was the closest I ever came to killing myself". He told the doctor that he would never actually do that because it was against his faith but the doctor called the cops who went to Sarti's home and removed his guns. I guess he was lucky they didn't kill him to prevent his committing suicide. But this was just the word of a cardiologist.

[thumper113]

Or the guy out East who called in to a radio talk show and was deemed unstable because he was a Christian?

[bubba]

I never knew Schizophrenia was a mood disorder. 

[Bigeasy]

Good post JCN.
 
Obviously, there are some people walking around out there that should not have a gun.. Heck, they shouldn't even be around sharp tools and matches.  Problem is, how to honestly determine who is who?
 
A "Board Review"?  What if the "Board" is comprised of folks who believe any person walking the street free is entitled to a gun?  Look around you....That is clearly not the case...  What if the "Board" feels any Psych. background (divorce counseling, grief counseling, etc..) is reason for automatic refusal?
 
The devil is in the details, and the question is how do you guarantee an honest "assessment"?  I don't know the answer to that one, but human nature being what it is, the opportunity for shenanigans is pretty high.....

Initial hearing with at least two Psych. present?  Then, if the person in question wants to challenge the ruling, a hearing with a Judge and Psychiatrist present, along with 12 citizens as peers making the final decision, all paid for by the state?   Expensive and time consuming, yes, but what price should we put on the removal of someones Constitutional Rights?
 
Larry

[coyotejoe]

Well it will be a boon to people with a psych degree who can't find a job.

[jcn59]

That's a good point Coyote.  The county I live in has a population of about 19,000.  There are about four clinics with a total of maybe 15 mostly part-time therapists providing services.  A full-blown psych assessment could take upwards of ten hours easily including the test time & paperwork not to mention the face-to-face time.  Keeping this in mind, remember that our government is refusing services for mentally ill children who should be in day treatment programs.

All this talk about a mental health screening prior to owning a gun is nothing but bureaucratic bull$hit, and don't forget it.  I used to do a brief annual presentation to our sheriffs department on indications of inmate suicide.   The information I researched identified signs, indicators and behaviors that might be present in a person who could commit suicide but there was virtually nothing to indicate probability of suicide.   Expect the same of a "gun assessment".

[lgm270]

A basic premise of liberalism is that everyone who disagrees with them is mentally ill.

People who opposed floridation, who believed in the existence of communist espionage,  and the sovereignty and independence of the USA are considered to be "paranoid" if not "wakos" and "nutcases."

If you supported the torturers and murderers who ran the  Soviet Union and considered Communism to be  "noble experiment"  then you were "normal." 

 

[mcwoodduck]

A basic premise of liberalism is that everyone who disagrees with them is mentally ill.

People who opposed floridation, who believed in the existence of communist espionage,  and the sovereignty and independence of the USA are considered to be "paranoid" if not "wakos" and "nutcases."

If you supported the torturers and murderers who ran the  Soviet Union and considered Communism to be  "noble experiment"  then you were "normal."

I was goingto type something very similar.
I find it odd that he liberals are willing to quote the bill of rights and how they have freedoms in the same breath they use to take any and all of your freedoms. 

[powderman]

A basic premise of liberalism is that everyone who disagrees with them is mentally ill.

 
BINGO. POWDERMAN. 

[gstewart44]

[tobster]

I'm thinking most politicians could be classifies as textbook narcissist.

[powderman]

GSTEWART. True Sir. POWDERMAN. 

[Victor3]

I'm thinking most politicians could be classifies as textbook narcissist.

 More likely sociopaths, on up to psychopaths if they qualify for higher office.