PERSONS WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AND THEIR RIGHTS TO POSSESS A GUN- PART 1

The United States was created on the premise that possession of guns and the right to arm oneself was a right of the individual. This right is not without exceptions and individuals who have been adjudicated to be mentally incompetent or involuntarily committed to a mental institution cannot possess a gun.
But what about persons who have not been adjudicated incompetent or involuntarily committed? What about persons who receive Social Security disability benefits because they are autistic, bipolar, depressed or anxious to a degree that they are unable to work and a money manager handles their finances? Should they be precluded from gun ownership?
Under the Obama administration, persons receiving SSI with a representative payee, such as a person with autism who had no intellectual impairment and no language impairment, a person with agoraphobia or social anxiety disorder would have been forbidden from keeping a firearm in their home for self-defense.
The strange bedfellows of the ACLU and the NRA fought this regulation on the basis that that without a judicial determination, the constitutional rights of those with mental issues were being arbitrarily abridged. Additionally, the inability of persons to work or manage their money did not correlate to increased likelihood to commit violence. Research shows that the cohort with serious mental health issues was no more likely than the general population to use a firearm to harm others or themselves.
This order was rescinded but persons with mental health issues and especially those who depend on government aid are a particularly vulnerable group and cannot be treated as a lesser class. We must avoid disparate treatment whenever possible.

“All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” (George Orwell, Animal Farm)

Part 2 of this blog will address restoration of gun rights.

Sources:
N.C.G.S.§ 14-404(C)(4),
18 U.S.C. §922(d),
20 CFR Part 421,
Dist. of Columbia v. Heller (2008) 554 U.S. 570,
Jeffrey Swanson, “The ban on mentally ill people buying guns wasn’t ever based on evidence,” The Washington Post, February 10, 2017,
Implementation of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System Improvement Amendments Act, www.regulations.gov/document?D=SSA-2016-0011-3998
www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/12.00-MentalDisorders-Adult.htm