New law aims to keep guns out of hands of mentally ill

Aug. 06--A new state law that takes effect next month will require probate judges to submit the name of every person involuntarily committed to a mental facility to be banned from legally buying a gun.

Now, a probate judge submits a person's name for a national database only if there is evidence the person either has a history of using or is a threat to use a gun or a dangerous instrument.

"I think there are a lot of things happening in our society now that led to this," Morgan County Probate Judge Greg Cain said.

The law, which takes effect Sept. 1, was sponsored by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, and signed into law by Gov. Robert Bentley on June 4.

Federal law prohibits selling or giving a firearm or ammunition to any person who is known to have been "adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution."

Existing state law, however, does not require reporting every person committed to a mental institution. The new law closes that loophole.

Local probate judges have submitted few names to the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center under the present law.

They said a large majority of the people who they have committed were a danger to themselves because they quit taking their medication, not because they were a threat to use a gun.

Cain said he has submitted fewer than five names, Limestone County Probate Judge Charles Woodroof has submitted three names, and Lawrence County Probate Judge Mike Praytor has not reported anyone to be added to the national registry.

The Alabama Probate Judges Association supported the bill, said Monroe County Probate Judge Greg Norris, who is president of the association.

"I'd rather be safe than sorry," Norris said.

Norris and the local judges all said the new law is fair to people who are involuntarily committed to a mental health treatment facility.

"If it can prevent someone from getting hurt by someone in any way, shape or form, it's a good thing," Woodroof said.

"In a lot of cases, something like that could've happened, but wasn't brought out in testimony," Praytor said of involuntary commitment hearings.

Norris said he thinks the new law is fair because it includes an appeals process.

Both the current law and the new law allow a person committed to a mental institution to appeal to district court to restore his right to legally buy a gun after he has been released.

"I think that there's protection in there," Cain said, referring to the right to petition the court for relief.

Local mental health advocate Ann Denbo said she doesn't know if the new law will help much.

A person with or without mental illness can avoid a background check by buying a gun from a private individual rather than a federally licensed dealer.

"If they're going to do (background checks), I think they should do it everywhere," she said.

Questions about the mental health of accused shooters in theaters in Louisiana and Colorado, a Chattanooga military recruitment center, the Washington Navy Yard, a Connecticut elementary school and other locations has created a national debate about access to guns by the mentally ill.

England, the bill's sponsor, did not return messages seeking comment.

When a probate judge commits a person to a mental facility, the judge will file a form with the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center, which is part of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. The agency enters the name into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System operated by the FBI.

Licensed gun dealers call the FBI for a background check to determine if a customer has a criminal record or is otherwise ineligible to buy a gun.

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