Neo-Luddite
Member
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0221edit1feb21,0,3974371.story
(I added bolding)
Guns and the mentally ill
February 21, 2008
Steven Kazmierczak told a friend that he had been discharged from the military for psychological reasons. He'd also reportedly spent time in a Chicago psychiatric treatment center in the late 1990s. But those incidents weren't enough to get him on a state database that is supposed to bar the mentally ill from holding gun permits or owning guns.
We don't know if there was anything in his history that should have landed him on that list. Nor do we know if any existing laws should have stopped Kazmierczak. No law that attempts to peer into a person's mind, to predict and prevent violence, will ever be foolproof.
In the aftermath of Virginia Tech massacre last year, people demanded that cops ... doctors ... pols ... campus officials ... someone ... do something to prevent another tragedy.
And they did.
- Virginia targeted a huge loophole in that state's law that allowed a mentally unstable killer to assemble an arsenal of weapons.
- Congress beefed up the government's ability to stop the mentally ill from buying guns. The law, signed by President Bush in January, compels states to turn over records to the federal screening database on anyone who has been found to be a danger to himself or others, and involuntarily committed to either inpatient or outpatient services. The goal: Expand the federal database to include an estimated 2 million or more people, including felons and the mentally ill, who cannot legally buy firearms.
At the time of the Virginia Tech shootings, only 22 states provided any mental health information to the federal database, according to the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence. It needs to be 50.
The feds are providing up to $250 million a year to help states comply. Illinois, which has its own statewide screening database, is set to start routinely providing to the feds this year the records of those who can't legally buy a gun. A strong federal database is crucial to keep ineligible gun buyers from crossing state lines to purchase guns.
- Starting June 1, mental health professionals in Illinois will be required to report violent, suicidal or threatening patients. That's much broader than the previous law, which required such reporting only for those admitted to public mental health institutions. With that alert, Illinois State Police can stop a person from legally buying a gun. If a person has a gun, police can seize it.
Some health professionals say they are uncomfortable with the new law because it shifts more of the reporting burden onto their shoulders. They worry about discouraging people from seeking treatment and about violating patients' privacy. Public safety isn't served if people are discouraged from getting treatment. That could create a dangerous subset of people who don't get counseling, don't get medication, don't get monitoring, but do get guns.
It's not just about databases and new laws. Remember -- someone always knows something. That's what Gary Slutkin, a violence prevention expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says. There are always warning signs of dangerous mental instability detected by parents, brothers, sisters, friends. Unfortunately, most people just don't know how to interpret them, or what to do. They may fear the consequences of alerting school authorities, police, or doctors. So they say nothing.
Say something.
(I added bolding)
Guns and the mentally ill
February 21, 2008
Steven Kazmierczak told a friend that he had been discharged from the military for psychological reasons. He'd also reportedly spent time in a Chicago psychiatric treatment center in the late 1990s. But those incidents weren't enough to get him on a state database that is supposed to bar the mentally ill from holding gun permits or owning guns.
We don't know if there was anything in his history that should have landed him on that list. Nor do we know if any existing laws should have stopped Kazmierczak. No law that attempts to peer into a person's mind, to predict and prevent violence, will ever be foolproof.
In the aftermath of Virginia Tech massacre last year, people demanded that cops ... doctors ... pols ... campus officials ... someone ... do something to prevent another tragedy.
And they did.
- Virginia targeted a huge loophole in that state's law that allowed a mentally unstable killer to assemble an arsenal of weapons.
- Congress beefed up the government's ability to stop the mentally ill from buying guns. The law, signed by President Bush in January, compels states to turn over records to the federal screening database on anyone who has been found to be a danger to himself or others, and involuntarily committed to either inpatient or outpatient services. The goal: Expand the federal database to include an estimated 2 million or more people, including felons and the mentally ill, who cannot legally buy firearms.
At the time of the Virginia Tech shootings, only 22 states provided any mental health information to the federal database, according to the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence. It needs to be 50.
The feds are providing up to $250 million a year to help states comply. Illinois, which has its own statewide screening database, is set to start routinely providing to the feds this year the records of those who can't legally buy a gun. A strong federal database is crucial to keep ineligible gun buyers from crossing state lines to purchase guns.
- Starting June 1, mental health professionals in Illinois will be required to report violent, suicidal or threatening patients. That's much broader than the previous law, which required such reporting only for those admitted to public mental health institutions. With that alert, Illinois State Police can stop a person from legally buying a gun. If a person has a gun, police can seize it.
Some health professionals say they are uncomfortable with the new law because it shifts more of the reporting burden onto their shoulders. They worry about discouraging people from seeking treatment and about violating patients' privacy. Public safety isn't served if people are discouraged from getting treatment. That could create a dangerous subset of people who don't get counseling, don't get medication, don't get monitoring, but do get guns.
It's not just about databases and new laws. Remember -- someone always knows something. That's what Gary Slutkin, a violence prevention expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says. There are always warning signs of dangerous mental instability detected by parents, brothers, sisters, friends. Unfortunately, most people just don't know how to interpret them, or what to do. They may fear the consequences of alerting school authorities, police, or doctors. So they say nothing.
Say something.
Precisely Romma, and that is precisely the problem.
