Checking on Gun Sales
Maryland's gun laws are already among the nation's strictest, with a seven-day waiting period, a training requirement for buyers and relatively tough regulations on issuing permits to carry a firearm.
Now anyone wanting to buy a gun must first agree to let state police verify their mental health records, under a new regulation quietly put in place this summer.
The rule, which came in response to the killings at Virginia Tech and took effect Aug. 1, is intended to help police determine whether someone should be prevented for mental health reasons from buying a gun. It would apply to people who have been ordered into treatment by a court or who have checked into a state psychiatric hospital for at least 30 days.
The new regulation does not require public hearings or the General Assembly's approval because it clarifies existing law, officials said. The change caught some gun rights and mental health advocates by surprise, and they expressed concern about the effect on gun buyers' privacy, particularly in cases involving voluntary psychiatric treatment sought years before
In Virginia, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) moved in late April to restrict gun sales to those involuntarily committed to inpatient or outpatient mental health treatment.
In these and other states, officials have tried to close the kind of loophole that allowed Seung Hui Cho to purchase the handguns he used to kill 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech in April. A court had found Cho to be dangerously mentally ill, but that information was not available in the computer database used by the gun dealers who sold him the weapons.
"We're trying to keep people who the law says can't buy a gun from buying one," said Greg Shipley, a Maryland State Police spokesman. "This will enable us to determine if you are telling the truth as far as state facilities are concerned."
Most inpatient treatment in Maryland takes place in state facilities rather than private ones, advocates say.
Federal law prohibits gun sales to people who have been judged "mentally defective," which includes people determined by a court or other legal authority to be a danger to themselves or others as a result of mental illness. In Maryland, police are also directed to deny a permit to someone whose mental or social functioning is "substantially impaired," making treatment "necessary or advisable."
Someone whose state of mind is at issue can buy a gun in Maryland after obtaining a note from a doctor declaring that person to be in good mental health. But some suggest that liability concerns will discourage psychiatrists from certifying patients.
By Phyllis Jordan |
September 18, 2007; 6:34 AM ET
| Category:
Lisa Rein
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Posted by: MK | September 18, 2007 12:12 PM
Good call, MK. I agree and can personally back that call. Not all sport-shooters and hunters react with a knee-jerk when gun control makes sense and when it can help actually protect the public. VA Tech may have become just a buzz word, but it happened and when something like that happens, Americans should try to prevent it from happening again. Almost everytime I visit a shooting range, there is no shortage of irresponsible treatment of weapons to observe. It might help just a little bit - to be assured that folks suffering from clinical depression, schitzophrenia, etc have not strapped up for their "dramatic moment". I think some of these events (once called "going postal") can be prevented. Good call MD State Police, and good call by O'Malley.
Posted by: Donny | September 18, 2007 1:11 PM
This is an excellent first step toward keeping Marylanders safer, but it doesn't go nearly far enough. What about mentally ill and depressed people driving cars, city buses, or flying airplanes? What about mentally ill people buying gasoline, propane, or welding gases? What about people with a history of mental treatment being allowed to vote, work with sensitive personal records, teach our children?
Are there police officers in Maryland who have undergone treatment for depression or other mental disorders?
Did Governor O'Malley sign a release to allow the State Police to examine his health records before taking control of the State Police and Maryland National Guard?
My God, we could have a mental defective in the Governor's mansion and not even know it!
Have you detected my sarcasm yet?
This is a free country with certain inalienable rights, allowing the State Police to dig through medical records in order to exercise one of those rights is totally unjustifiable. If a person is too dangerous to possess a firearm, they are too dangerous to drive a car or possess gasoline and matches - in other words, they are too dangerous to be roaming the streets.
There is no law that has ever kept guns (or other dangerous items) out of the hands of criminals or crazies. Laws should instead focus on keeping dangerous criminals and crazies away from dangerous items. Keep them in prisons and controlled environments where they can't hurt anyone.
Posted by: Janet | September 18, 2007 4:02 PM
Janet is right on (as well as being hilariously sarcastic!). Donny - the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution doesn't say anything about sport shooting or hunting. Enforce the laws we already have!
Posted by: Rafe | September 24, 2007 2:34 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
As a gun owner, I have no problem with this regulation. People who are judged to be mentally unfit to own a gun are already prohibited from owning one. This regulation merely helps to ensure these people's records will be screened. However, there is no reason that if a person wishing to buy a gun passes the background check that he or she should have to wait seven days to pick up the gun.