Gun Laws Discourage Mental Health Treatment (?)

Under federal law (18 USC 922 (d) and (g)), it is illegal for anyone who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution . . . to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.

Under Miss. Code section § 45-9-103 (1) (a), an individual who has been judicially determined by a court as a person with mental illness or person with an intellectual disability under Title 41, Chapter 21, Mississippi Code of 1972, whether ordered for inpatient treatment, outpatient treatment, day treatment, night treatment or home health services treatment is to be reported as a “federal prohibited-person.”

What this means is that a person must weigh the need for mental health treatment against the potential harm to their right to possess a firearm for self-defense and sporting purposes.

Under so-called “Red Flag” or “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” it is easier for a family member or LEO to have someone involuntarily committed for mental health treatment with very limited due process and an inadequate system to have their firearm disability re-instated. While it is obviously important to quickly and efficiently remove firearms from those who would harm themselves or others, lawmakers must also consider the trouble and cost to a person who may only temporarily need mental health treatment.

For example, to obtain a concealed carry license in Mississippi, the individual would have to wait FIVE YEARS after going to court to have his/her restoration declared by judicial decision or obtain a statement that s/he has been recovered for the same FIVE YEARS even if the commitment was voluntary.

Miss. Code Ann. section 45-9-101(1) provides that a license may only be issued if the individual
(h) Has not been adjudicated mentally incompetent, or has waited five (5) years from the date of his restoration to capacity by court order;
(i) Has not been voluntarily or involuntarily committed to a mental institution or mental health treatment facility unless he possesses a certificate from a psychiatrist licensed in this state that he has not suffered from disability for a period of five (5) years;

This author’s experience is that such laws seriously discourage people from obtaining needed treatment for what can be only a temporary issue.