Unless a person is mentally deficient enough to be placed on at least a 72-hour involuntary hold by authorities and then after having at least two mental professionals diagnosed and then in court adjudicated as such, they should not lose the right to keep and bear arms..
I think in order for your criteria to work, society would need to become more efficient at being able to get people diagnosed as such, but as it stands, somebody mentally unstable can skirt by avoiding such, until the moment they go over the edge.
I still believe family is the key, they are first to know, if there is to be new legislation, empower the family. A majority of mass shooters have had family's who knew their loved ones were sick.
To use the uni-bomber as an example, it took family to stop him from killing more than he did, and I believe if family is given more leeway, even special leeway, that could be a major improvement.
I know your pain somewhat reading about your daughter, my sympathies go out to you.
I had a son that was a good boy until at about 18 had began to suffer from Schizophrenia like his mother had. It was a rough 10 years then he like her passed.
Good luck with her in the future.
Sorry to hear about your wife and son, it gives people a different perspective. When I was young I looked at the homeless people in Santa Cruz with humor, now I feel disdain for what they have done to themselves AND their families. You know, the hardest thing in life, is trying to convince a sick person that they are sick, I'm sure you spent a great deal of time trying to do the same.
Having dealt with a lot of folks who were mentally ill, I sympathize. The Red Flag laws simply won't do any good. They are targeted at people who aren't mentally ill.
I'll add something to what you said also, and I think you'll agree. Invariably folks who are mentally ill, but stable with their meds, will quit taking their meds. They always think they can do without them and they almost always can't.
What do you base this on? I mean of course Red Flags will not cure the problem, but can it help the problem?
If they changed the law that allowed family to request to law enforcement that their family member be taken in for evaluation, and the physician on duty was actually able to use his judgement as opposed to law enforcement asking the same two questions, more mentally ill would be 5150'd, at that point sending up a red flag.
When the ACLU took away the rights of families to have their loved ones committed, they really opened a can of worms, we need a law where families are given more authority to have a family member evaluated upon request..not just asked if they feel like killing or being killed.
The hardest part of the whole deal is getting your family member from the front door, to the hospital to be evaluated. The police actually seem to run interference for the sick. They claim there is nothing they can do if the individual does not claim they want to hurt themselves, but that simply is not true, it is policy, not law.
