Georgia law allows the mentally ill to buy firearms
A law in Georgia is allowing for hundreds of people who were barred from buying firearms to slip around background checks, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. According to Georgia law, people who are involuntarily committed for mental health treatment are required to have their records of commitment erased from the National Instant Background Check System after five years. This includes patients who were committed for inpatient treatment, found incompetent to handle their own affairs, or found guilty of a crime but mentally ill; under federal law, however, such people are technically not supposed to possess firearms.
"We're pulling them back after five years," said GBI Director Vernon Keenan, whose agency provides the commitment records to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. "That's a legal dilemma [because] that person is still prohibited from possession or buying firearms."The names come off the national list without any review by a doctor or a court. Although these are federal records, participation in the program by each state is voluntary and subject to conditions the state may impose. [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
However, others see the five-year expiration date as appropriate. “It's a tenuous position for someone to have had a mental illness. Your mental health when you're 25 years old is different from when you're 55 years old," State Sen. Renee Unterman said. "Why should you carry the baggage and stigma of mental illness?"
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