Mr. Glock wrote:
Turning the topic slightly, I do find myself somewhat on the Sheriff's side on this one. Mental health is a larger issue in the US than most people realize, and the mental health system is truly broken in the US. LEOs deal with a lot of mentally ill folks too, so the Sheriff is not ignorant here. That said, the "Red Flag" extreme risk protection orders are a canard by the gun control lobby to ease confiscation of firearms, to normalize it, so to speak, that will be abused (and skips due process as well, an even bigger issue that caused the ACLU to get involved in a 2A issue).
But, at what point, has the mental health of a person declined to the point that they should not carry a gun in public? That is a question that really has not been addressed in this thread or, frankly, in pro-gun ranks in general. That is an unpleasant conversation that the pro-gun folks have avoided.
I'm not talking about if someone visits a therapist or takes a mental health medication. Many, many productive members of society do these things on a regular basis. But this fellow had a full break with reality, and shot an object that he, at the time, thought was something else. He didn't shoot a speaker in anger, he shot a psychotic apparition. That is the reality of psychosis. We can "excuse" a change in medication, and it may be valid, but we don't actually know this for fact. He could have just as easily shot his wife or a responding LEO, believing at the time it was something else during his break from reality.
Carrying a gun is a right. But it also in turn carries a social responsibility. As a society, we need to know when someone crosses that line from being a citizen with full rights vs a member of society (who no fault of their own) may suffer mental health issues that affect their ability to correctly and judisioulsy exercise their rights. Your rights stop at my nose, in other words.
Let us remember that mental health issues and psychotropic drugs have featured heavily in most recent mass shootings too.
Subject to due process, of course. He had a break with reality and used a gun highly improperly while in an alternate reality. In my mind, this meets the definition of not being fit to carry a firearm in society.
Personally, I'm not thinking I agree with him walking around with a concealed firearm.
Before anyone gets all up in arms (I understand this might be a contentious post), I'd ask you to carefully read this post and also consider your real/actual understanding of mental health issues in today's world.
How can we say he had a psychotic break ?? Do we have any evidence to support that ?? He claims to have no memory of events.
We are hearing a second or actually third hand account of the events. The family of the individual perhaps shared what he did with him, he has no recollection, and he related it to the OP.
But we do not and should not IMHO let a Sheriff decide on a whim to not lift a suspension of a CHL based on his "feelings" or "comfort"...again IMHO. The conditions are in the statutes...the sheriff should follow those.
I have met folks who suffered from delusions, one person it was apparently temporary, he said he was 3 stories up on a building working as a brick masons tender, he needed a tool down on the ground and the idea just came to him "hey why not fly down and get it".....his internal critic said "holy shirt NO, I can't fly, I'll die". Whatever meds a MD had talked him into taking he ended up off them and never had any similar things happen in a decade since.
A lady I knew she had delusions that the people at her current job were making themselves look people at a past job where she was fired....that condition she has not recovered from, she is still in the grips of delusions like that and the meds that help some but have side effects that many folks dislike.
If the sheriff has grounds he should REVOKE the CHL not suspend it with no end to the suspension.
Bill