Good thing my mental health records are clean. :/

[TonyB]

Maybe a repost, but I just saw/heard of this this afternoon.

"...a new regulation
that took effect quietly on Aug. 1"

 

[foxtrapper]

Gun Buyers Must Release Mental Health Records
(AP) ANNNAPOLIS, Md. New gun buyers must sign waivers releasing their mental health records to state police under a new regulation
that took effect quietly on Aug. 1.

It's a response to the killings at Virginia Tech in April. A court found gunman Seung Hui Cho dangerously mentally ill, but that information wasn't available to gun dealers.

Some gun rights and mental health advocates were surprised by the change and are concerned about gun buyers' privacy and the lack of public discussion on the matter.

Officials say no public hearings or approval by the General Assembly are required because the regulation clarifies existing law.

Gun buyers already answered questions relating to mental health. But officials say investigators rarely checked the answers against state records on psychiatric hospital stays and involuntary civil commitments records weren't added to the state database.

Is this the part about " have you spent 30 days or more in a mental hospital or been ajudicated a danger to yourself and others" on the fed form ? Or the " do you suffer from a mental disorder as defined in bla bla section code bla bla" on the MD form?

Is one"suffering" if on medication that totally controls symptoms?

 

[Spot77]

Is one"suffering" if on medication that totally controls symptoms?

Aren't most of us suffering some form of mental disability for staying in this craphole of a tax hell state?

 

[smores]

Aren't most of us suffering some form of mental disability for staying in this craphole of a tax hell state?

 

[Allium]

And who says the mentally ill are suffering? They may well be having one hell of a good time and just dont choose to tell us.

 

[foxtrapper]

Well if you have depression, you are suffering. But I would think most people with bad depression would be more inclined to kill themself and NOT harm others by say, shooting them. Most people with simple depression respond well to meds.

Scitzophrenia and bipolar- these 2 could be red flags, but not everyone with these is violent either.

I think lawmakers make mountains out of molehills.

I hope they don't make a law that private doctor records can be pried into, so that the death in your family that made you depressed 15 years ago and the doc gave you prozac for, makes you unable to buy a gun.

The hysteria behind these laws is akin to 1 fox getting into a chicken coop and killing all the chickens, so lets kill all the foxes in the state to prevent any more fox chicken coop raidings. Gawd, imagine trying to kill all the foxes in Maryland!

 

[jpk1md]

Gawd, imagine trying to kill all the foxes in Maryland!

I think most folks would settle for the Weasels....

 

[foxtrapper]

Most weasels found in MD are the 2 legged variety, that you are right about!

In reality, as a fur trapper, I have yet to catch the 4 legged variety, but I have caught my share of mink. Alot of mink in my area, but they can be slippery footed lil bastards.

 

[zoostation]

The people I feel bad for are the returning veterans it might affect. "Oh thanks a lot for serving your country and fighting for us in combat. Oh and by the way, since you went to the VA doc about those nightmares you were having you can't ever possess a gun again for the rest of your life. Thanks again."

 

[Deacon51]

What has pissed me off about today coverage is there claim that it's a new "law".

There was no law, no one approved this, no debates, no commits, no public hearings, no input from the citizens. Just one man decided he wanted to take a look at gun owners mental health records and if the gun owners don't agree, he will just deny there 'request' to buy a firearm.

I'm all for the state doing what ever is necessary to keep guns out of the wrong hands. And I would support some type of system where if a court declared a person a danger to himself or others, that information be included, and if I am not mistaken, that system is already in place.

All that said, I signed the damn thing when I got my HK a couple of weeks ago.

 

[DorGunR]

a new regulation that took effect quietly on Aug. 1.

I just bought two rifles at my favorite gun store and I don't remember signing a paper like this............but then I don't remember what I had for breakfast either.

 

[jpk1md]

I just bought two rifles at my favorite gun store and I don't remember signing a paper like this............but then I don't remember what I had for breakfast either.

Regulated Firearms Only....

 

[RnRFreak]

So lets say that many years ago someone did some dumb stuff as a kid and was medicated for a little while, and during a really bad divorce and already on anti-depressants because of it, some one checked themselves into a Mental Facility because they were losing it and just needed help, was discharged 2 days later as fine with an increase of the dosage of their meds...

Years later is doing just fine, is on no medications and is a productive person... is going to be denied?

Has there been any real clarification on this?

 

[zoostation]

So lets say that many years ago someone did some dumb stuff as a kid and was medicated for a little while, and during a really bad divorce and already on anti-depressants because of it, some one checked themselves into a Mental Facility because they were losing it and just needed help, was discharged 2 days later as fine with an increase of the dosage of their meds...

Years later is doing just fine, is on no medications and is a productive person... is going to be denied?

Has there been any real clarification on this?

The law is pretty clear. It has to be 30 consecutive days. So two days alone should not matter. Medicated or not shouldn't matter by itself. The big difference is the person "checked themselves in." If someone got committed involuntarily, even for five minutes, then the federal lifetime ban kicks in.

And also, if it were a private psychiatric hospital the state probably won't even have those records. In my opinion, and as I read it, the release you are signing is for government health agencies only. My wife has worked for MH agencies for 20+ years and I asked her what she thought that release meant. She felt in MD it would pretty much mean state hospitals and state insurance paid care (medicaid). If someone uses that release to delve into something that isn't authorized, my advice would be run, don't walk, to the nearest attorney and see about filing a nice fat lawsuit.

 

[foxtrapper]

This got me all rattled, but there was another article today, in the Sun, that had more about it. They can't access private records, either private hospital ( say Shepherd Pratt) or family doctor type stuff.

I had a problem with clinical depression back in 1993 and have been on zoloft ever since and have been fine. Had to raise the dose up a few months ago, a combo of VA Tech and my neighbor killing himself rattled me and I got some depression symptoms again after all those years. I can't help the fact I have had depression, it is a chemical imbalance, yet I feel so guilty about it anyway even though it is the common curse of creative people ( yes I am an artist, but taxidermy has been my art for years, also used to write very well at one time, and I want to get back into that) . Thank goodness I do not have bipolar disorder, which is common among creative people.

So this whole deny guns to mentally ill thing has me upset, since the liberal idiots might try to extend the ban of gun sales to someone like me. I have no inclination to want to go shoot some place up and kill people, and have never done anything worst than get 1 traffic ticket in all my years of driving, from age 16 to nearly 35 ( my b-day is coming up real soon). I have never used illegal drugs either, though I hung around some potheads for a bit in college. Might have inhaled something in the air LOL. I have never even gotten all drunk before, alcohol does nothing for me. I am a real goody 2 shoes! LOL

 

[Half-cocked]

The law is pretty clear. It has to be 30 consecutive days.

Whew! It's a good thing I manage to escape every few weeks, then!

 

[zoostation]

......and Sarah Brady once again grimaced as she read the mocking comments on the mdshooters.com website......

 

[novus collectus]

The law is pretty clear. It has to be 30 consecutive days. So two days alone should not matter. Medicated or not shouldn't matter by itself. The big difference is the person "checked themselves in." If someone got committed involuntarily, even for five minutes, then the federal lifetime ban kicks in.
...

The big problem I can see that O'Malley did not evision or simply did not care about is that once someone signs the release the mental health check of someone's MD state hospitals may be public record now for those states that want to check on mental health records for gun purchases and otherwise.
In some states even just a three day stay in a mental hospital or the mental health wing of a hospital is a disqualfying factor for gun ownership IIRC.

 

[Bethesda John]

They turned me loose from the nervous hospital. 'Said I was well. I don't reckon I got no reason to kill nobody. Mmm, mmm.

 

[foxtrapper]

Oh no you guys, don't be playing crazy, the Teflon Leprechaun* might be watching!

(*name given to O'Malley by a Baltimore cop, not sure of its common usage or even what it trully means, but I think it's funny nonetheless)