Lenett: Give police access to court cases of mentally ill

Friday, May 25, 2007
Lenett: Give police access to court cases of mentally ill
Senator wants O’Malley to follow Virginia’s example to halt iffy gun sales

by C. Benjamin Ford | Staff Writer
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A state senator wants Gov. Martin O’Malley to make it harder for the mentally ill to buy firearms in the wake of the deadly Virginia Tech shootings, but both gun rights and mental health advocates are wary of his idea.

Sen. Mike G. Lenett wrote the governor, recommending that he issue an executive order to make certain that all state agencies report mental illness cases to federal and state criminal databases.

Lenett (D-Dist. 19) of Silver Spring also wants the Maryland State Police to ask the courts for all orders involving involuntary inpatient or outpatient psychiatric care.

Lenett’s letter has been referred to the legislative staff for review, said O’Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese.

Maryland State Police review 14 databases to screen applicants for firearms, said spokesman Gregory Shipley. While some information on the court cases where a judge orders an involuntary committal is available, most records on mental health cases are not because of privacy concerns, he said.

Police rely on the truthfulness of people filling out an affidavit when they want to buy a firearm. One question asks whether the applicant has ever spent more than 30 consecutive days in a medical institution for treatment of a mental disorder. Another asks whether they have ever been ruled mentally defective or committed to a mental institution.

‘‘There are holes in the system, and we rely on the honesty of the individuals filling out the form,” Shipley said.

In an interview, Lenett said Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) closed such loopholes through an executive order immediately after the April 16 Virginia Tech shootings, which left 33 dead including the gunman who killed himself. Seung-Hui Cho was able to buy the weapons he used because a judge ordered him into outpatient psychiatric care instead of committing him involuntarily to a mental institution. Investigators determined later that Cho lied on the firearms application.

Privacy should not be a concern, Lenett said, since the records would be used only to prevent those with mental illnesses from buying guns, something federal law already outlaws. ‘‘The records are to be used for one very narrow public safety effort,” he said.

State and federal laws that prohibit the mentally ill, convicted felons and domestic abusers from buying firearms are of little use if the information is not made available to screen the purchases, Lenett said.

Maryland is one of 28 states where police have little to no access to all public records involving the mentally ill, Lenett said.

‘‘The Virginia Tech incident hits very close to home,” he said. ‘‘The tragedy would be even worse if we failed to learn from it. We should take this opportunity to review our own laws for any holes that could allow a similar type of tragedy to occur in Maryland or make it easier for a similar tragedy to occur.”

Lenett is using the Virginia Tech tragedy to push an anti-gun agenda, said gun rights advocate James M. Purtilo, publisher of the Tripwire newsletter.

‘‘The issue is where do you draw the line. I’m sure Senator Lenett would say Jim Purtilo is crazy for wanting to own a gun,” he said. ‘‘I don’t think anybody in our community is going to fight hard to keep a truly dangerous person from having a gun. The problem is when you have people like the senator with an agenda to try to grandstand and exploit a tragedy for some inappropriate end.”

Police in Maryland have used the behavior to obtain emergency psychiatric evaluations in order to take away people’s guns, Purtilo said. ‘‘Apparently, they have almost boundless indiscretion to do this, and they do this to get tough with people.”

Lynn H. Albizo, executive director of mental health advocacy group NAMI Maryland, said she is concerned about giving police more access to mental health records.

‘‘There’s a concern in general for everyone’s safety and NAMI supports protecting the society, but there’s a general concern about privacy of individuals’ psychiatric records and the sharing of that information in general,” she said.

Albizo said she also has concerns about taking away any person’s rights because of a disability.

‘‘Mental illness just by itself is not an indicator of violence,” she said. ‘‘There may be other indications that predict that. I’d just be very wary of endorsing that kind of position.”

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