I'm not a lawyer so I don't understand all that goes into a bill like this. I approach it the way every other regular person reads it. If I'm wrong, I'm begging you to address it so that I can pass on the information to others.
HR 2640
(9) On April 16, 2007, a student with a history of mental illness at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University shot to death 32 students and faculty members, wounded 17 more, and then took his own life. The shooting, the deadliest campus shooting in United States history, renewed the need to improve information-sharing that would enable Federal and State law enforcement agencies to conduct complete background checks on potential firearms purchasers. In spite of a proven history of mental illness, the shooter was able to purchase the two firearms used in the shooting. Improved coordination between State and Federal authorities could have ensured that the shooter's disqualifying mental health information was available to NICS.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) COURT ORDER- The term `court order' includes a court order (as described in section 922(g)(8) of title 18, United States Code).
(2) MENTAL HEALTH TERMS- The terms `adjudicated as a mental defective' and `committed to a mental institution' have the same meanings as in section 922(g)(4) of title 18, United States Code.
They regard PTSD as a disability and therefore a defect. Most have to go on medication. Some have to go into rehab and receive mental health treatments from talk therapy to medications. This will keep veterans, and already has kept them, from seeking treatment from the VA.
(3) MISDEMEANOR CRIME OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE- The term `misdemeanor crime of domestic violence' has the meaning given the term in section 921(a)(33) of title 18, United States Code.
This is good because some do turn violent.
Standard for Adjudications and Commitments Related to Mental Health-
(1) IN GENERAL- No department or agency of the Federal Government may provide to the Attorney General any record of an adjudication related to the mental health of a person or any commitment of a person to a mental institution if--
(A) the adjudication or commitment, respectively, has been set aside or expunged, or the person has otherwise been fully released or discharged from all mandatory treatment, supervision, or monitoring;
If they are seeing a doctor for PTSD then they have not been discharged.
(B) the person has been found by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority to no longer suffer from the mental health condition that was the basis of the adjudication or commitment, respectively, or has otherwise been found to be rehabilitated through any procedure available under law; or
PTSD is not cured. It can be healed to a point but that depends on how soon treatment begins and the level of the illness the veteran has.
(C) the adjudication or commitment, respectively, is based solely on a medical finding of disability, without an opportunity for a hearing by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority, and the person has not been adjudicated as a mental defective consistent with section 922(g)(4) of title 18, United States Code, except that nothing in this section or any other provision of law shall prevent a Federal department or agency from providing to the Attorney General any record demonstrating that a person was adjudicated to be not guilty by reason of insanity, or based on lack of mental responsibility, or found incompetent to stand trial, in any criminal case or under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
PTSD is considered by many as "not mentally responsible." They cannot enter into a legal contract and a lot of them have to have someone legally responsible for them.
(iii) A record that identifies a person who is an unlawful user of, or addicted to a controlled substance (as such terms `unlawful user' and `addicted' are respectively defined in regulations implementing section 922(g)(3) of title 18, United States Code, as in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act) as demonstrated by arrests, convictions, and adjudications, and whose record is not protected from disclosure to the Attorney General under any provision of State or Federal law.
(iv) A record that identifies a person who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution, consistent with section 922(g)(4) of title 18, United States Code, and whose record is not protected from disclosure to the Attorney General under any provision of State or Federal law.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-2640
Some have self medicated to kill off feelings they do not want to re-experience in a flashback. They use alcohol and drugs to accomplish this. This will keep them from seeking help.
As this bill stands, most in the military deployed with PTSD should not be using a fire arm. In other words, if they have PTSD, by their own rules, those deployed should be removed from combat and removed from their guns. If they are not responsible enough to have a gun in their home town then they are not responsible enough to be deployed into combat with a machine gun.
Some veterans have jobs requiring them to have fire arms. Some veterans entered into law enforcement with mild or dormant PTSD until a secondary stressor hits them. They realize they need help to cope with the symptoms of PTSD and if they get treatment, they begin to heal. The problem is under these rules, if they go for help, they will lose their jobs.
Some veterans entered into the DEA. Again, if they go for help under these rules, they can lose their jobs.
Some veterans want to stay in the military and some of them are capable of doing their duties provided they have proper medication and treatment to continue. Under these rules, they would not be able to do this.
PTSD is not a one size fits all illness. There are different levels of it and different problems. The symptoms can strike with full force and a veteran can get all of them or only some of them. It depends, as with everything else, on the individual. Some do get violent or homicidal. Some get suicidal. The greater majority do not turn either way.
Again I don't know what the answer is but this way, they will fear losing their jobs and their careers if they seek treatment. It was hard enough to get them to go for help in the first place. Then it got harder when I did manage to get them to go for help, but the system was too overloaded. Now with this, they are afraid for their jobs as well. What do I do with them now?
Post a comment if you know the answer or email me in private if you have any answers. I don't know what to tell them now when they ask.
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
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