Sage Thrasher
Member
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2006
- Messages
- 15
What are the rights and responsibilities of schools, doctors, and family members in putting people on the NICS list of those prohibited of buying or owning firearms?
We had a mass murder in Portland OR recently. It was carried out by a young man, several years out of high school, who had been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic in high school. Apparently, he had been questioned in high school about threats he allegedly made to go on a murder spree. Apparently the young man and his family didn't have means to buy meds, and when the young man left high school, his medical coverage ended--and he went off of his pills.
He was NOT ever put on the NICS banned list. There was no apparent hurdle to his buying a gun legally. I'm not naive enough to think he couldn't have gotten a gun somewhere illegally, but in this case he legally bought a gun from a pawn shop only weeks before shooting 9 teens in downtown Portland, 2 fatally. If he'd been on the NICS banned list, it could have at least somewhat increased the chance that he wouldn't get a firearm.
My question is this--since the high school knew about his diagnosis, could they have called NICS and put this kid on the list of those not allowed to own a firearm?
Does this happen? If it doesn't, should it? I know there are special circumstances regarding privacy of medical records and the criminal/medical records of minors, but when you have a high school student both diagnosed with mental illness AND involved in an apparent threat, it seems he ought to be eligible to be excluded from his 2nd Amendement right.
The NICS statute say the following about who is ineligible says this:
"A person adjudicated mental defective or involuntarily committed to a mental institution or incompetent to handle own affairs, including dispositions to criminal charges of found not guilty by reason of insanity or found incompetent to stand trial."
The section under "Voluntary Submissions" says this:
"In addition to local, state, and federal agencies voluntarily contributing records to the NICS Index, the NICS Section receives telephone calls from state mental institutions, psychiatrists, police departments, and family members inquiring about placing individuals in the NICS Index. Frequently, these are emergency mental health issues and may require immediate action. Validation of the supporting records to ensure the individual is prohibited is conducted prior to the subject’s entry into the NICS Index."
To me, putting a kid like this on a banned list seems to be what NICS is all about & I'm curious as to why high schools or other institutions dealing with diagnosed mental illness aren't directed to do this. Thanks for the feedback.
We had a mass murder in Portland OR recently. It was carried out by a young man, several years out of high school, who had been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic in high school. Apparently, he had been questioned in high school about threats he allegedly made to go on a murder spree. Apparently the young man and his family didn't have means to buy meds, and when the young man left high school, his medical coverage ended--and he went off of his pills.
He was NOT ever put on the NICS banned list. There was no apparent hurdle to his buying a gun legally. I'm not naive enough to think he couldn't have gotten a gun somewhere illegally, but in this case he legally bought a gun from a pawn shop only weeks before shooting 9 teens in downtown Portland, 2 fatally. If he'd been on the NICS banned list, it could have at least somewhat increased the chance that he wouldn't get a firearm.
My question is this--since the high school knew about his diagnosis, could they have called NICS and put this kid on the list of those not allowed to own a firearm?
Does this happen? If it doesn't, should it? I know there are special circumstances regarding privacy of medical records and the criminal/medical records of minors, but when you have a high school student both diagnosed with mental illness AND involved in an apparent threat, it seems he ought to be eligible to be excluded from his 2nd Amendement right.
The NICS statute say the following about who is ineligible says this:
"A person adjudicated mental defective or involuntarily committed to a mental institution or incompetent to handle own affairs, including dispositions to criminal charges of found not guilty by reason of insanity or found incompetent to stand trial."
The section under "Voluntary Submissions" says this:
"In addition to local, state, and federal agencies voluntarily contributing records to the NICS Index, the NICS Section receives telephone calls from state mental institutions, psychiatrists, police departments, and family members inquiring about placing individuals in the NICS Index. Frequently, these are emergency mental health issues and may require immediate action. Validation of the supporting records to ensure the individual is prohibited is conducted prior to the subject’s entry into the NICS Index."
To me, putting a kid like this on a banned list seems to be what NICS is all about & I'm curious as to why high schools or other institutions dealing with diagnosed mental illness aren't directed to do this. Thanks for the feedback.