Gun laws and the involuntarily committed: a California road map.
The 2007 incident at Virginia Tech brought the question of gun ownership by the mentally ill to the forefront of public attention. Moreover, it underscored the potentially devastating consequences of the imperfect connection between federal and state laws that apply to the right of gun ownership by a psychiatric patient. The laws are complex, and, as demonstrated in this article, conflicting. We present a case report of an involuntarily committed patient in the state of California, and discuss details of state and federal laws that applied to him.
Zahedi
Sohrab
S
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, 14445 Olive View Drive, Sylmar, CA 91342, USA. sobzi@mac.com
Burchuk
Robert
R
Stone
David C
DC
Kopelowicz
Alex
A
D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D002961:Civil Rights / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D005389:Firearms / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D010067:Ownership / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence