Red flags, green lights

When mental illness isn’t permanent

In the nearly immeasurable divide that separates the pro-gun from the gun-control types in this country, there are still a few things that they can agree on. Believe it or not.

For example: Do the crime, do the time. We think that may even be an NRA bumper sticker. Which is more innocuous than the “pry it from my cold dead hand” slogans we’ve seen from that outfit.

There also seems to be a general consensus that people with certain mental illnesses should be kept away from firearms. But those with experience in these matters know that mental illness isn’t always a life-long handicap. (Although sometimes it is.) Sometimes—maybe often times—a person can not only “handle” a mental illness with medication, but all but cure it. We think it was Colin Powell who once said a family member could handle her depression with one pill a day, just the way he handled his high blood pressure. His comparison in that matter has stayed with us for years.

So what to do with a person who has an episode of some import and is hospitalized, but eventually gets the chemical balance right? He’s working again. He’s happy again. He’s enjoying life and family again.

Should he go hunting again? The state is looking into this. As it should.

First, let us stipulate for the court (of public opinion) that there aren’t enough red-flag laws in this country, or this state. Red-flag laws seem common-sensical in a world with declining common sense.

The idea goes like this: The family of somebody in distress goes to a judge in good standing to ask the court to take the person’s guns away. If the judge agrees (there are checks and balances) then the person’s guns are taken. At that point, the person has an opportunity to appear at a quick hearing (another check/balance) to make his case against the seizure. Then again, the court must rule. Your no-account brother-in-law couldn’t have your guns confiscated because of a disagreement over a lawn mower.

And even after those guns are taken away, these laws have due process clauses to allow for later hearings to revisit the matter. These laws keep mentally distressed people from dying, or killing, with their rights on. But their guns aren’t taken willy-nilly.

Come back to the state of Arkansas, and this week’s news: The state’s attorney general’s office (Tim Griffin, prop.) recommended to lawmakers that people who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution have some sort of legal path to get their gun rights back in the future.

In Arkansas, the law “prohibits the possession of firearms by persons who have a prior felony conviction, who have been adjudicated mentally ill, or who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution,” according to Josh Snyder’s article on Tuesday.

“Under this statute,” deputy AG Alexandra Benton told the Arkansas Legislative Council, “there’s no path to regain gun rights if you’ve been involuntarily committed, even for a few days, to a mental institution.”

The governor can restore gun rights to a felon, but the law has no path for the (once, hopefully always former) mental patient.

Alexandra Benton said the AG’s office recommends “crafting some sort of mechanism or procedure” to allow these folks to get their gun rights back. After they’ve met the legal and medical thresholds, let’s presume. And let’s also pressume that the pathway, once completed, really does weed out those too sick to be trusted with firearms.

Done right, this may actually help decrease firearm violence. How?

Right now the only real opposition to red-flag laws comes from state lawmakers (and certain congresspeople) who say they’re worried about due process. Due process is a real concern for Americans. Always has been. And it always will be in any nation of laws. As long as lawmakers and their constituents are worried about due process, or the perceived lack thereof, in gun laws, it will be harder to pass redflag legislation.

The more that We the People can guarantee due process, the more we can rework gun laws to better protect ourselves and our families. Not to mention those who have what the old folks at home call a “spell” when they’re 17 years old, but go on to be perfectly normal citizens after getting their meds right. And this being Arkansas, they may want to duck hunt, too.

It may seem strange to say this, but getting the law right as far as due process for those once housed in a mental ward might actually allay the worries of those lawmakers, and those they represent, about red-flag laws. And make such laws easier to pass. Which could possibly save a lot of lives in the future.

Let’s do it.