Submitted by Charlton Stanley, guest blogger
(Otteray Scribe)
What is mental illness? It’s a hot topic in the news recently, because of proposed gun control legislation. I saw a photo yesterday of people holding up a huge sign saying, “Keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill.”
There is far more to the demonization of the mentally ill than just the firearms issue. It spills over into the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation. It is not just guns; it is airplanes and trucks as well. This brings us to the core question of, “What is mental illness?” The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) is the current handbook for classifying mental disorders. DSM-V is in the final stages of development and will be published in May 2013. That is only next month.
Which brings us back to the original question of what exactly is mental illness? In New York, a man’s home was raided, his Concealed Carry Permit revoked and guns confiscated because someone told the police he was taking an anti-anxiety medication. I have received emails in the past week from several friends about this issue. One of them is a vet, M→F transgendered. She is concerned about being able to renew her own Concealed Carry Permit (CCP). As a veteran and avid target-shooting hobbyist, she is well trained in gun safety and use. As a transgender woman, she is a target and prey according to FBI statistics. Hate crimes against LGBT people are at a 14-year high.
According to the DSM-IV-TR, “Gender Identity Disorder” is one of the mental illnesses. In the DSM-V, it is renamed “Gender Dysphoria.” While claiming it is not a mental illness, the fact that Gender Dysphoria is in the DSM-V in the first place makes it suspect in the eyes of many. Two days ago, she sent this excerpt from a local outlet:
The enforcement action started on March 29th when New York State Police asked the Erie County Clerk’s Office to pursue revoking the man’s pistol permit because he owned guns in violation of the mental health provision of New York’s newly enacted guns law called the SAFE ACT.
The allegation turned out to be untrue and his guns returned to him. As it turned out, the police, sua sponte, initiated the action. The only lawyer involved in the matter was the man’s own attorney.
Erie County Clerk Chris Jacobs said, “When the State Police called to tell us they made a mistake and had the wrong person…it became clear that the State did not do their job here, and now we all look foolish.”
Flaws in the mental health reporting provisions of the NY SAFE Act were blamed for the misunderstanding. The county clerk added, “Until the mental health provisions are fixed, these mistakes will continue to happen” (source: WKBW-TV)
The bigger issue is how come taking an anxiolytic prescribed by one’s family doctor disqualifying? It would be interesting to know just how many of those raiding officers, and their supervisors, are taking medication for anxiety, depression or sleep.
Is mild anxiety a reason to stigmatize someone, and possibly violate his or her civil rights? It gets better. The FAA Medical Examiner will not allow psychiatric medications for any class of Medical Certificate. If a psychiatric medication, it is an automatic disqualification. Several non-psychiatric medications are disqualifying as well. When Tagamet (cimetidine) was first released to treat ulcers and hyperacidity, it disqualified one from holding an FAA Medical Certificate in order to fly. I first heard about that from a friend who was an Aviation Medical Examiner at the time. He told me the FAA put Tagamet on the list because, “It acts on the central nervous system.”
What is mental illness? Some say it is anything that is in the DSM. However, as I have pointed out in court many times, the DSM is a handbook put together by a committee. Everyone has heard the old joke about what a committee produces: “An elephant is a mouse designed by a committee.”
The new DSM-V will be expanding the definition of ADHD. The definition of PTSD is supposed to be clarified in the final definition. Homosexuality was removed from the DSM-IV. If it was a mental illness, the why was it removed? The answer to that is simple. It is not a mental illness.
Let’s look at posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a single example of a single disorder. PTSD is classified as an anxiety spectrum disorder. Symptoms include feeling anxious, vivid dreams or memories of a traumatic event, and avoidance of situations that might remind one of the traumatic event. Those are called “triggers.” Some claim that only combat veterans can suffer PTSD. That is nonsense. The original trauma can be anything causing one to fear for their own life or safety, or that of others. No one knows how many Americans suffer from PTSD, but the NIMH estimates 7.7 million adults have diagnosable PTSD. That is about 3.5% of the population. 22% of Vietnam veterans returned with PTSD. My personal impression is that number is too low by a significant margin. Many people with PTSD have never been diagnosed. Why? Because they are afraid to talk to a doctor or clinical social worker.
How many rights should be taken from all those citizens and veterans, simply because they have PTSD?
When some of the most prominent mental health experts in the world cannot agree what mental illness diagnoses are, how are lawmakers, judges and law enforcement officers supposed to know? Is being transgendered a mental illness? How about homosexuality—oops, never mind, they took that out of the DSM-IV. There are many people with bipolar disorder walking around and you will never know it, especially if they are taking their medication. Should a person with well-controlled bipolar disorder be allowed to drive an 18 wheel truck, fly a light airplane, or own firearms?
It is interesting that the FAA has created a new class of aircraft, call Light Sport Aircraft” or LSA, which do not require an FAA medical certificate to fly. A light sport pilot may fly with a valid and current driver’s license. Glider pilots can exercise the privilege without a medical certificate.
This brings us to driver’s licenses. If a person, who is taking Xanax or some mild anti-depressant is not allowed to own firearms or fly a Cessna 172, why can they drive? An average automobile or pickup truck weighs almost two tons. They drive on two-lane roads at 55 or 60 mph. That means on a two-lane road, they are passing within two to four feet of each other with a closing speed of about 120 mph.
Just what is mental illness, and where is that bright line drawn for different activities and privileges of ownership? Think about it. Your physician has to give you a formal diagnosis in order to write a prescription for any medication. Almost any Primary Care Physician, especially family doctors, will tell you that a large percentage of their patients are receiving medications for diagnosed psychiatric conditions. The most common are depression and anxiety, either situational or endogenous.
Alcohol, in my opinion, is much more dangerous than any antidepressant or anxiolytic on the market. Yet, alcohol is legal in most areas. The individual is responsible for keeping their alcohol level under the legal limit, without any government official monitoring them. The rule for pilots is, “eight hours from bottle to throttle.” In other words, if you intend to fly, there should be at least eight hours between the last drink and flying. My rule was always 24 hours just to be on the safe side. Alcohol is involved in far more assaults, shootings, auto crashes, and suicides than any psychiatric medication I know of. That is because alcohol is a disinhibitor.
It is unfortunate that Congress saw fit to suppress data collection on firearms violence back in 1996. I see many pronouncements on violence related to firearms, but without real science, those pronouncements are meaningless. Last January, President Obama lifted the 17-year drought on data gathering. Some members of Congress and the NRA are demanding that the data not be used to promote or advocate any position on violence. Fine. That is the way data should be gathered—content neutral. That honors the null hypothesis approach to research. However the results of the data fall, it should be accessible to other researchers. It must not be buried.
Legislation and administrative rules that limit rights are already having negative effects on people with mental health issues. They do not get treatment, or ask their doctor for advice. Sometimes they lie. Sometimes a patient will show up, insist on paying cash, register under a John Doe alias, give a vacant lot as an address and use 888-88-8888 for a Social Security number. Most people who need mental health medications or treatment refuse to seek help. If anyone thinks that is a good thing, they are not paying attention.
As my father used to say, “Anybody with one eye and half-sense could have seen that one coming.”
HIPAA is supposed to keep your records private, but they are accessible with a court order. Alternately, any agency issuing a license or certificate can insist on the applicant signing a HIPAA complaint medical release form. Sign the form or you do not get your license. One must always beware the Law of Unintended Consequences.
Here are a few tidbits to chew upon. Please discuss. Where is that bright line?
OS:
while we dont agree on economics we agree on this issue and I think we agree on individual rights in general as per your nod to the first amendment not being just about printing presses.
I would think that if a liberal and a conservative are agreeing wholeheartedly on an issue, it would behoove both sides to take notice and see where the thinking overlaps and like Aristotle look for the “golden mean”.
I dont want 12 year olds buying shotguns, BB guns or fully automatic rifles nor do I think a good background check is a bad thing. I dont want some crazy buying a gun and shooting up my family.
Thanks for being a voice of reason which is the mark of a true liberal.
RWL:
send me your address and I will send that $100 per our agreement for you to say that.
With regard to “emotional” arguments. My question was, still is, and will remain: How do you plan to implement universal registration?
When an unenforceable law is passed, it should come as no surprise when average people ignore it for a variety of reasons. Those reasons will vary from:
1. not trusting the government,
2. too much trouble,
3. I’ll get around to it some day,
4. simply don’t care about the law; i.e., scofflaws,
5. knowing full well that law enforcement has no way to enforce it, so why bother.
Then there is a second group:
1. Criminals won’t obey it because, well, they are criminals,
2. Too much money to be made in black market weapons,
3. Any economist can tell you there will be an overnight black market trade in firearms that will make the present black market look like granny’s garage sale.
How did that 18th Amendment work out? As for those who call people who keep and use firearms as a hobby, it does not win friends and influence people to call them hyperbolic names, such as , “gun fetishist.” “gun nut,” and “shills for the NRA” when many liberal and progressive firearms owners hate the NRA. However; human nature being what it is, there is no better way to drive that latter group into the arms of the NRA membership rolls when they see the NRA as being the only effective lobby for protecting their hobby. There are many who admit openly that the ultimate goal is to outlaw firearms, and registration is a first step. And then to accuse gun owners of being paranoid is disingenuous at best.
As this old gentleman says,
http://static.someecards.com/someecards/usercards/MjAxMy01ZjU3OWQwYWIwYmUzMTg0.png
In reading liberal and progressive blogs, I keep seeing the same hyperbole: guns are “killing machines” and “their only purpose is to kill people”. Really? How about the fact there are 15 Olympic events that involve shooting? Nine men’s events and six women’s. There are four archery events. How about shooting clay pigeons for fun or competition? There is big money in shooting competitions. Enough prize money that people like my former brother-in-law could easily justify buying shotguns that cost as much as a brand new BMW. Some colleges offer ‘full ride’ scholarships for competitive shooting.
From a psychological point of view, I fail to see little difference between playing golf and shooting sports. Both sports have the goal of improving skill and accuracy. Both target shooters and golfers compete not only against others, but against oneself to achieve a better score than last time out.
Over on Daily Kos, shortfinals (who has posted several comments in this thread) wrote a dairy about the last airworthy B-17 bomber still in Europe. He has written about other historic aircraft as well. Trolls come into his stories to attack him for, “glorifying killing machines.”
There have been plenty of hyperbole and emotional rants on both sides of the argument. I get back to my original question. New sales of firearms at licensed dealers are already registered, so any registration will have to be for the untold millions of firearms which were never registered. Bought and sold long before anyone ever got the notion of registering guns. Handed down in families. BTW, even in a family, if a full-auto firearm is handed down, there are already laws in place to control those transactions. Uncle Jake cannot will his Thompson sub-machine gun to little Jake Jr. without the ATF becoming involved with a background check and tax stamp.
I was telling Darren last night that this debate reminds me of what Jim Brown said to Richard Pryor. Richard told the story of the time he set himself on fire while freebasing cocaine. He was burned badly, including setting his hair on fire. Richard was trying to get out of his hospital room to go look for more drugs, becoming more frantic by the moment. Jim Brown stood in the door of his hospital room, his great frame completely filling the doorway. Jim calmly repeated the same question to Richard over and over, “What’cha gonna do now?”
The votes are not there, and will NEVER be there, for any more than band-aid laws. The Second Amendment will never be repealed or amended, no matter how much wishful thinking there is. A common argument against the Second Amendment is that it was written in a time of musket and sword. As a matter of fact, the repeating rifle had already been invented at that time. And to carry that argument to its conclusion, the First Amendment should only apply to documents printed on printing presses with movable type. Electronic media and the Internet should not fall under the First Amendment.
Given those truths, I ask, “What’cha gonna do now?” Instead of spending millions, or even billions, on unenforceable laws (see: drug laws), how about spending that same money on improving the mental health delivery system in this country? It is FUBAR., and will not get any better until mental health treatment is available to everyone. It is the red-headed stepchild of the health care system.
Bron,
Oh great and wise one, to you all praise is due. Is that better?
RWL:
I am pretty sure Chechnya is an Islamic country. Chechnyian rebels were responsible for that hostage situation in Russia a few years ago and I think for the bombing of a school.
Bron et all,
Correction: they are not Russian; they are Chechnyain (from Chechnya, a new country separated from Russia during a civil war).
RWL:
are you going back on our bet? 🙂
RWL:
so you are saying they are Russian Krakers?
Blouise,
No. My new rig won’t arrive until Wednesday and I’ll have a day of setup time.
Bron,
Yes. But the 2 Boston Bombing suspects (1 dead from an overnight shootout with the Boston PD, and other is on the run) are identified as Russian Islamic brothers.
RWL:
it was a Mississippi cracker who posted the powder not an Islamic Terrorist.
mike spindell:
we already have background checks, I have had one every time I have bought a rifle or a pistol and I have had them at gun shows. You dont have to have one if you sell to a friend, etc. and you are not a FFL dealer.
what will stop school shootings is to quit giving psychoactive drugs to children. I am amazed there are not more school shootings as I have seen the results of these drugs on children first hand [not my own], they cause suicidal/murderous tendencies and are not made to be given to young children. the whole fuking country is drugging our children and the left is worried about firearms registration, which we already have along with some 10’s of thousands of firearm regulations.
Get rid of the drugs.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/15/1170258/–He-was-on-medication
http://cegant.com/commentary/school-shootings-and-psychiatric-drugs-update
Mike S.,
Like rafflaw, I agree with your last comment. Those of us who favor gun control legislation are often accused of being “emotional.” I have heard a lot of very emotional gun advocates arguing against any form of gun control. In fact, I’ve heard some pretty crazy ideas proposed by these people–one idea being the arming of school teachers, principals, and custodians. Imagine school personnel carrying around armed weapons!
Mike S.,
I agree with your last post. The proffered legislation cannot be considered as a panacea to the problem this country has with guns. But they can help save lives and still protect the Second Amendment.
Gene,
Is everything fixed? I’ll see you all tomorrow
Adolphus Busch IV Resigns From NRA After Gun Control Defeat In Senate
By Christina Wilkie
Posted: 04/18/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/adolphus-busch-iv-nra_n_3112750.html
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON — Adolphus Busch IV, heir to the Busch family brewing fortune, resigned his lifetime membership in the National Rifle Association on Thursday, writing in a letter to NRA President David Keene, “I fail to see how the NRA can disregard the overwhelming will of its members who see background checks as reasonable.”
The resignation, first reported by KSDK, came a day after the Senate rejected a series of amendments to a gun control bill, including a bipartisan deal to expand background checks for gun sales. The NRA had vigorously opposed all those measures.
“The NRA I see today has undermined the values upon which it was established,” wrote Busch. “Your current strategic focus clearly places priority on the needs of gun and ammunition manufacturers while disregarding the opinions of your 4 million individual members.”
Bob/Blouise,
Just so you know, I’m having Scrabble withdrawal.
Bob,
Commonweal, Bob … commonweal
(I know … I’ve been gone since last weekend and today is the first day I haven’t had to do catch-up on chores … I will see you on the boards tomorrow)
So are we also going to ban sports cars because they can drive 160 mph and anyone with a enough cash can buy one regardless of their driving skill, their ability to be licensed, no training, nothing. Most people cannot safely drive more than 125, due to lack of experience and knowledge on how to operate one at high speeds. Excessive speed is a large reason for fatal crashes involving people so why are we not banning sports cars? But there is the want to ban assault rifles and hi cap magazines because someone might abuse them. Have you all seen first hand what a 120+ mph crash does to the human body? It generally kills everyone in the car and the other vehicle(s) it collides with. Yet, we sell sports cars, nobody complains.
And the sports car lobby, are you saying they are also hampering police investigations into fatal car collisions because they kept congress from putting governors on cars that prevent operation over 80 mph?
Did Hollywood create this monster by glorifying fast cars and marketing people creating the sports car mystique? Sports car or Yugo GV, they both can only drive the speed limit so why would anyone other than a crazed leadfoot want a sports car? You must be a reckless driver to buy a sports. And the sports car kills people not the driver.
That is what I am hearing when you take some of these posts and replace “gun” with “sports car”.
And Blouise,
It’s your move on the scrabble board.