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http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/07_16-22/OPN



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Our Say:
New police policy on gun purchases worth a try

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By THE CAPITAL EDITORIAL BOARD
After this spring's carnage at Virginia Tech University, carried out by a student who was able to buy guns in spite of a history of mental illness, many states began looking at their regulations governing handgun purchases.
With little fanfare, the newly appointed Maryland State Police superintendent, Col. Terrence Sheridan, last month sent a letter to state gun dealers requiring that anyone who applies to purchase a handgun after July 31 sign a release allowing police access to the applicant's mental health records.
According to a published report, by signing, the prospective buyer will be agreeing to let health agencies in Maryland and other states disclose any information about whether he or she has ever suffered from mental illness, has a history of violent behavior or has been confined in a mental health facility for more than 30 consecutive days.

Anyone who refuses to sign the release will be prevented from purchasing a handgun in Maryland.

Currently, state police search more than a dozen databases when conducting background checks on prospective gun buyers. But until now, medical information has been confidential and unavailable.

While Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration argues that the extra step does not intrude on privacy rights, some gun rights advocates, predictably, are blasting the action as unlawful and unnecessary.

They maintain that the action is not needed because mental health commitments are already reported to police. And, they say, the policy is illegal because it exceeds what is allowed by a 1996 state gun law.

Proponents, on the other hand, say that when it comes to guns, additional scrutiny for people who may be a danger to themselves or others is a positive step.

We tend to agree, and would like to give the new policy time to see if it makes a difference - even though it would seem to be headed for an inevitable political challenge, and perhaps a legal one as well.

(emphasis added because this is important - they recognize our constitutionally preotected right!)Law-abiding citizens have a constitutionally protected right to bear arms, but this new requirement __ if its good intentions don't collapse into bureaucratic dysfunction __ merely makes existing mental health information more easily available to police.

Obviously, there are disturbed people with access to weapons who don't need to buy guns. There are others whose dangerous mental problems haven't yet come to the notice of health care professionals or resulted in commitment. But it seems only prudent to do whatever is possible to try to protect everyone from another massacre.

Marylanders don't need to wake up one day to television images of mass murder, only to ask why another mentally disturbed person was able to buy a gun.


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Set them straight, and flood their inboxes the MD Shooters' way!

But it seems only prudent to do whatever is possible to try to protect everyone from another massacre.

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More brilliance from the Crapital. First of all these morons who write at an eighth grade level apparently can't read at the same. As anyone who reads the form knows, the scope of it clearly is not what they say it is. I mean for goodness sake, the release is what, two paragraphs long IN LARGE FRIGGING TYPE EVEN and they still can't get it right?

That being said, it's the typical shrieking of a tabloid rag staffed by wannabes with minimal critical thinking skills not cut out for real city newspaper work. "Who cares about the Constitution, civil rights, or the rights of the mentally ill (society's new witch hunt), or the little fact that the executive branch of the state is copying a tinpot third-world dictatorship and making up it's own laws by diktat as it goes along. Let's just do anything, anything, give up any right and sacrifice any privacy, we want to be all warm and cuddly in a blanket of total state-provided security. After all, we all know the government can be trusted to protect us. That's what governments do, right? Just look at history!"

zoostation said:

More brilliance from the Crapital. First of all these morons who write at an eighth grade level apparently can't read at the same. As anyone who reads the form knows, the scope of it clearly is not what they say it is. I mean for goodness sake, the release is what, two paragraphs long IN LARGE FRIGGING TYPE EVEN and they still can't get it right?

That being said, it's the typical shrieking of a tabloid rag staffed by wannabes with minimal critical thinking skills not cut out for real city newspaper work. "Who cares about the Constitution, civil rights, or the rights of the mentally ill (society's new witch hunt), or the little fact that the executive branch of the state is copying a tinpot third-world dictatorship and making up it's own laws by diktat as it goes along. Let's just do anything, anything, give up any right and sacrifice any privacy, we want to be all warm and cuddly in a blanket of total state-provided security. After all, we all know the government can be trusted to protect us. That's what governments do, right? Just look at history!"

Click to expand...