Looking for Risk in All the Wrong Places: State Mental Health Agencies and Firearm Background Checks

• In Event: Firearms and Violence

Abstract

The Brady Bill specifies that mental health background checks be done for all individuals applying for gun permits. In many states having been committed to a psychiatric facility may disqualify an individual from obtaining such a permit. Prior to the 1990s commitments in many states occurred principally in hospitals maintained by state mental health agencies (SMHAs), but to an increasing extent commitments are done in private and general hospital settings. SMHA records thus may not include information on the majority of commitments in their states. Unless police chiefs undertake more comprehensive searches or use other means of obtaining information regarding applicants’ mental health histories, more such histories will be unknown. This presentation explores this problem by a) describing the mental health background check process in Massachusetts, b) the outcomes of queries to the SMHA based on information obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, and c) the outcome of a statewide survey of local police chiefs regarding any efforts they may make to augment this process. Implications for the validity of these background checks are and potential effects of pending legislation will be discussed.

Authors

• William H. Fisher, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

• James Silver, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

• Debra Pinals, Massachusetts Department of Mental Health