Why we need red flag laws

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Why we need red flag laws

You’ve probably seen the stories about the homicidal man who killed 18 people in Maine and eventually took his own life. According to numerous media reports Robert Card was struggling with his mental health and hospitalized for one day in July. Card was a member of the army reserve and a trained marksman.

CNN reported that the army gave Card a referral to seek treatment for mental health, after it was reported he was “hearing voices” and had thoughts about “hurting other soldiers.”

In my view, a person with homicidal thoughts doesn’t simply need a referral. They need psychiatric inpatient treatment. Immediately. They should be kept inpatient until stabilized. Not released when insurance companies think they should be, but released when symptoms have resolved and thoughts have cleared.

And…

A person who experiences homicidal and suicidal thoughts should not be legally able to own or purchases firearms. In the throes of psychotic symptoms with specific thoughts of hurting other people or themselves, this makes a person a danger to themselves and others. I’m not sure what it’s going to take for “red flag” laws to become more prevalent.

Quite simply, a red flag law allows a note in the background check system on firearms to identify the person as having a mental health issue. The person who is flagged in the system will be unable to purchase a firearm. I don’t anyone who can honestly disagree that this is a bad idea. Does it bring to question privacy issues? Yes. But from a public safety standpoint, it is the right thing to do.

When I first heard about this shooting and details began to emerge, I was deeply saddened for all the victims and family members. I was also heavy hearted because this is not the first time something similar to this has happened.

Some of you may remember the Colorado movie theatre shooter, James Holmes. He killed 12 people and injured 70 others. People who were going to the movies for entertainment.

I read the entire transcript of that case and learned the psychiatrist James Holmes was seeing didn’t involuntarily commit him, when I he specifically told her he wanted to kill people.

I’ve taught hundreds of hours of classes on mental health and suicide prevention. The first thing I told my classes was to take people seriously when they actively say they want to harm themselves or others. It’s one thing for a layperson to have someone tell them they want to kill people, it’s another for this to be told to a mental health care professional.

If nothing else, it’s just common sense to make sure a person receives mental health treatment and pray it’s long enough treatment for a person’s mental health to be restored.

I do have to add that most people who experience psychotic symptoms and/or episodes are not violent. However, often times a person having a psychotic episode will intersect with law enforcement. I’m speaking from personal experience and my work as a mental health advocate.

Unfortunately, a great deal of tragic outcomes could be avoided with more common sense laws for involuntary commitment and for sure, red flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.

Something has to change or we will continue to turn on the TV or scroll through our social media news feeds and find these stories of tragic outcomes.

I know there will be people who completely disagree with me on any restrictions to gun ownership. They are entitled to their opinion. However, I would argue they don’t have enough facts to make a legitimate argument against red flag laws.

The last thing I want to point out is the fact that the entire mental health treatment system is broken. There’s no accountability for providers on quality indicators. There’s rarely accountability on outcomes. And so many of these stories never make it into mainstream media. It makes me shudder to have a window into what a mess this system is.

My hope is by writing about the topic, I’ll shed some light in areas where there’s darkness. I’m holding onto hope that something will change for the better.