I continue to be baffled by GOA’s claims about HR2640. I can understand why some people are skeptical of any bill sponsored by Carolyn McCarthy, but some of this stuff just isn’t true:
How? The Veterans Disarmament Act — which has already passed the House — would place any veteran who has ever been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on the federal gun ban list.
Except it won’t. This is simply not true, and I can’t think of any plausible reading of the language of HR2640 that would make this true. The bill sets out standards for being added to NICS by a federal agency, and suffering from PTSD does not meet that standard.
One term relates to who is classified a “mental defective.” Forty years ago that term meant one was adjudicated “not guilty” in a court of law by reason of insanity. But under the Veterans Disarmament Act, “mental defective” has been stretched to include anyone whom a psychiatrist determines might be a tiny danger to self or others.
Again, this is simply not the federal standard. A proper adjudication under federal law takes more than a mere psychologist saying you’re a danger to yourself or others. It must be a lawfully comprised court or board. You can’t end up prohibited because your shrink decides he doesn’t want you having guns.
In the past, one could only lose one’s gun rights through an adjudication by a judge, magistrate or court — meaning conviction after a trial. Adjudication could only occur in a court with all the protections of due process, including the right to face one’s accuser. Now, adjudication in HR 2640 would include a finding by “a court, commission, committee or other authorized person” (namely, a psychiatrist).
Larry is misunderstanding the standard here. Let’s review again what the actual regulation is:
Adjudicated as a mental defective. (a) A determination by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority that a person, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease:
(1) Is a danger to himself or to others; or
(2) Lacks the mental capacity to contract or manage his own affairs.
(b) The term shall include–
(1) A finding of insanity by a court in a criminal case; and
(2) Those persons found incompetent to stand trial or found not guilty by reason of lack of mental responsibility pursuant to articles 50a and 72b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. 850a, 876b.
A psychiatrist is not a lawful authority under this regulation. They have no power, on their own, to make determinations. Other lawful authority is meant to cover bodies entrusted under state law with adjudications that are not courts, boards, or commissions. In no state, nor in the federal system, that I am aware of, do psychologists or psychiatrists have the sole power to declare someone mentally incompetent.
As I said, there are many good reasons I’ve heard from folks about why HR2640 is a bad idea, but I don’t think Larry Pratt’s concerns are among those.
