Mental health check part of LTC process now?

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I was looking at the Reading, MA PD's website today and I saw something interesting regarding the licensing process...

How Does the Process Work?
In order to apply for a license to carry, FID card or mace permit you must fill out the above application completely, honestly, and accurately and drop it off at the station marked to the attention of "Firearms Licensing Officer." Within several weeks you will be contacted to arrange for an appointment to come in and have your photographs and prints taken as well as have a final application uploaded into the state's MIRCS licensing system. Once uploaded into the MIRCS system a background check is completed which consists of a fingerprint record check conducted by the State Police and the FBI, a mental health check conducted by DMH, and a suitability and criminal records check conducted by the Reading Police Department. Based on the findings, applicants are either denied or approved and are formally notified of the outcome by mail. At the present time, processing from when you come in for your appointment to when you physically receive your license or your denial letter is taking about 5 months. As such, we strongly reccomend all renewals schedule an appointment 6 months in advance of their current expiration date.

Link to licensing page

Is this something new? I haven't seen a mental health check mentioned before and I certainly didn't go through one when I got my license.
 
Obama has FAILED to do anything in regards to mental illness after Sandy Hook. He and Joe Biden tried to stir up support for more gun control but what have they done about mental illness? EVERY mass shooting involves a mentally ill person, if things were different and the laws were changed dozens of people may still be alive today. Obama has shown he doesn't care about mass shootings he only cares about using these incidents as a club to beat conservatives and Republicans over the head. Makes me sick! Oh and if Michelle is such a big health nut why does she have such a big butt?
 
Obama has FAILED to do anything in regards to mental illness after Sandy Hook. He and Joe Biden tried to stir up support for more gun control but what have they done about mental illness? EVERY mass shooting involves a mentally ill person, if things were different and the laws were changed dozens of people may still be alive today. Obama has shown he doesn't care about mass shootings he only cares about using these incidents as a club to beat conservatives and Republicans over the head. Makes me sick! Oh and if Michelle is such a big health nut why does she have such a big butt?

Yeah that's not true at all, Adam Lanza didn't have an actual mental illness. That being said, what do you propose exactly? Invading people's privacy and locking up anyone with anxiety?

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archiv...ont-impact-mass-shootings-or-school-killings/

http://psychcentral.com/archives/violence.htm

"patients discharged from psychiatric facilities who did not abuse alcohol and illegal drugs had a rate of violence no different than that of their neighbors in the community. Substance abuse raised the rate of violence both among discharged psychiatric patients and among non-patients. However, a higher portion of discharged patients than of others in their neighborhoods reported having symptoms of substance abuse, and -- at least when they first got out of the hospital --substance abuse was more likely to lead to violence among discharged patients than among non-patients."

Someone with a mental illness alone doesn't lead directly to more violence than someone who isn't.
 
I was looking at the Reading, MA PD's website today and I saw something interesting regarding the licensing process...



Link to licensing page

Is this something new? I haven't seen a mental health check mentioned before and I certainly didn't go through one when I got my license.

This has alwys been part of the process in MA. They send an inquiry to the DMH.
 
So a young soldier comes home from the war/police action, has some PTSD issues, or just wants to sit down with a mental health professional and sort things out...goes to the VA... That's going to prevent him/her from owning a weapon?
 
Been part of Maine for years. You are required to sign a release that is in the application package. No sig required for Ma that I always thought was strange for this nanny state.

I got nothing to hide but I don't have to like the process.
 
This isn't new.

So a young soldier comes home from the war/police action, has some PTSD issues, or just wants to sit down with a mental health professional and sort things out...goes to the VA... That's going to prevent him/her from owning a weapon?

The check goes to the Department of Mental Health, not the VA. I don't know if DMH has access to the private health records of the VA. I doubt anything will show up unless there has been an involuntary commitment, but that's just my guess.
 
It's a total can of worms.

100% disability from the VA on a PTSD is just plain F%^$# U), the answer is that it, "depends".

It has been a requirement for release of DMH data on my town renewal for over 5 licenses.
 
So a young soldier comes home from the war/police action, has some PTSD issues, or just wants to sit down with a mental health professional and sort things out...goes to the VA... That's going to prevent him/her from owning a weapon?

My understanding is "involuntary commitment" not voluntary. But my understanding may not be 100% correct.
 
I was looking at the Reading, MA PD's website today and I saw something interesting regarding the licensing process...



Link to licensing page

Is this something new? I haven't seen a mental health check mentioned before and I certainly didn't go through one when I got my license.

They do the same in Maine as well ( Already Mentioned)
 
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This has alwys been part of the process in MA. They send an inquiry to the DMH.

That was my understanding also. I don't believe that anything pops up unless you've actually been involuntarily committed. It wouldn't surprise me if MA were to try to widen the scope of mental health as a disqualifier. If they do, it would have the opposite effect of what they think will happen. People who have milder mental health issues would avoid any medical help for fear of losing what little 2A rights they still have in the PRM. Their untreated mental condition may deteriorate even further, making their treatment more costly. But we'll all be safer. [thinking]

Oh and if Michelle is such a big health nut why does she have such a big butt?

"I like big butts, and I cannot lie!" [laugh]
 
What would happen to an existing LTC (either renewal or suitability) if a vet were to check himself into McLean for help dealing with PTSD?

I see that the LTC app specifically mentions "confined to any hospital or institution for mental illness" but it doesn't address voluntary entry.
 
What would happen to an existing LTC (either renewal or suitability) if a vet were to check himself into McLean for help dealing with PTSD?

I see that the LTC app specifically mentions "confined to any hospital or institution for mental illness" but it doesn't address voluntary entry.

"Confined" is the involuntary part - can you check yourself back out (even against Dr. advice) or are you locked in. If the former, you check "no."

R
 
Yeah that's not true at all, Adam Lanza didn't have an actual mental illness.

What does this count as?
http://articles.courant.com/2013-12...20131227_1_peter-lanza-adam-lanza-nancy-lanza
Details of a three-hour exam that Adam Lanza had in 2006 with another Yale Child Study psychiatrist, Dr. Robert A. King, were released for the first time Friday.
...........
According to the police files, King said that Adam Lanza "displayed a profound autism spectrum disorder with rigidity, isolation and a lack of comprehension of ordinary social interaction and communications." Lanza was also diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder.
..........
King recommended that Adam Lanza receive further treatment at the center and referred Nancy Lanza to Koenig.In her sworn statement to police, Koenig said that she had four face-to-face meetings with Adam Lanza between October 2006 and February 2007 and corresponded with Nancy Lanza by telephone and through email messages.
At that time, Lanza was being seen by Fox, whom Koenig said was Lanza's "primary psychiatrist."
Koenig said that Lanza's obsessive compulsive disorder "severely limited his ability to lead a normal, well-adjusted life."
She described him as "emotionally paralyzed" and said that he would participate in multiple daily rituals like repeated hand washing and showering and obsessively changing the blue polo shirts and khaki pants that he wore exclusively — behavior that forced Nancy Lanza to do up to three loads of laundry a day.
 
It's ONLY for involuntary committal. If you seek it on your own, it doesn't count. So, seeking therapy, speaking to a counselor, voluntary commitment, etc, don't count

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I know a guy that was administered a Rorschach test (ink blot test) by the licensing officer.

The ink blots all looked like guns to him.

He said "Glock" to all the answers except the last one. The last one was obviously an "assault weapon". He passed with flying colors.

About the DMH check - it only counts against you if you were committed involuntarily to a state institution. You would know that.
 
This isn't new.



The check goes to the Department of Mental Health, not the VA. I don't know if DMH has access to the private health records of the VA. I doubt anything will show up unless there has been an involuntary commitment, but that's just my guess.

This^ at least back in 2003. An acquaintance of mine, Nam Vet, with 50% disability from the VA for PTSD, was issued an unrestricted LTC-A while living in Lowell. I haven't seen him since 2003, but as far as I know (through other people), he still has his LTC.
 
This isn't new.



The check goes to the Department of Mental Health, not the VA. I don't know if DMH has access to the private health records of the VA. I doubt anything will show up unless there has been an involuntary commitment, but that's just my guess.

The VA reports it. There are people who might benefit from some kind of counseling who are not doing it, for fear of being denied their second amendment rights. My neighbor is a VA psychiatrist, we've had this conversation. Whether Mass has access to the info, I don't know.
 
So a young soldier comes home from the war/police action, has some PTSD issues, or just wants to sit down with a mental health professional and sort things out...goes to the VA... That's going to prevent him/her from owning a weapon?

no

- - - Updated - - -

It's ONLY for involuntary committal. If you seek it on your own, it doesn't count. So, seeking therapy, speaking to a counselor, voluntary commitment, etc, don't count

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

yet
 
It's ONLY for involuntary committal. If you seek it on your own, it doesn't count. So, seeking therapy, speaking to a counselor, voluntary commitment, etc, don't count

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk


Yet.

- - - Updated - - -

no

- - - Updated - - -



yet


Ha, just barely beat me to it.
 
There's a certain town in Ma that requires any LTC applicant to obtain a doctor's letter stating that they are "mentally stable to own a firearm". How they get away with it, god only knows.
 
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