Source: http://blogs.harvard.edu/billofhealth/2012/10/09/good-news-and-bad-news-about-gun-laws-mental-illness-and-violence-part-3/
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Good news and bad news about gun laws, mental illness and violence — Part 3 | Bill of Health
Posted on October 9, 2012 by Public Health Law Research	This is Part 3 in a three-part series on gun laws, mental illness and violence in the United States. Read Part 1 and Part 2. By Jeffrey Swanson, PhD
For example, on the one hand, the Social Security Administration assigns a “representative payee” to SSI beneficiaries with a psychiatric disability who are deemed incapable of managing their own money. Having a federally-assigned representative payee may be one indicator of mental incapacity, but it is not a disqualifier for gun purchase.
On the other hand, the Veterans Administration assigns what it calls a “fiduciary” to veterans with psychiatric disabilities who are deemed incapable of managing their VA benefits — and then proceeds to report to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) all veterans with fiduciaries. At the state level, court-ordered guardianship of a person with a serious mental illness is typically considered a gun disqualifying (and NICS-reportable) “mental health adjudication,” but a court-assigned financial power of attorney is not.
The VA’s use of a fiduciary appointment as a putative indicator of mental incapacity sufficient to abridge firearms rights is controversial. Senators Burr and Webb recently re-introduced the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act, a bill that would allow veterans with fiduciaries to keep their gun rights. The House already passed a version of the bill in 2011. This law, if enacted, would automatically restore gun rights to an estimated 127,000 veterans who have been reported to NICS because of having a fiduciary. Opponents of the bill contend that restoring legal access to firearms for veterans with psychiatric disabilities who are unable to manage their own finances would increase risk of those veterans harming themselves or others. While they argue, veteran suicides have surpassed the number of American war casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.
To date, the only empirical evidence that gun restrictions on people with a history of mental illness might prevent firearm violence in the US population comes from a national evaluation of the Brady Act (Ludwig & Cook, 2000). That study found that gun purchaser background checks and waiting periods had no significant effect on homicide rates, but did reduce the suicide rate by 6 percent in people over age 55.
Advocates for the Burr-Webb bill should answer the question, “What would restoring gun rights to 127,000 veterans with psychiatric disabilities do for the veteran suicide problem?” The bill’s sponsors do not know the answer, but a little research could provide a clue. And if the VA policy is defensible, what does that imply for other jurisdictions’ analogous laws and policies regarding non-veterans with disabling psychiatric conditions?
Public Health Law Research (PHLR) is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with direction and technical assistance provided by Temple University. PHLR is dedicated to building the evidence base for laws that improve public health. The program funds research, improves research methods, and makes evidence more accessible to policy-makers, the media, and the public.	View all posts by Public Health Law Research →	2 thoughts on “Good news and bad news about gun laws, mental illness and violence — Part 3”	Pingback: Good news and bad news about gun laws, mental illness and violence — Part 3 | Temple University Beasley School of Law
Sgt. Posler on January 4, 2013 at 1:35 PM said:
Who are they to decide I’ve had my guns since I can remember now they want me to get rid of them sounds like there playing god I use to go hunting now I sit at home wondering if I’ll get a felony for owning a gun I don’t sleep any better than before due to not being able to protect my family at nite now that adds to my depression wow I feel like they treat you like a felon or even a terrorist at times great sacrifice for a ungrateful nation your welcome.