Well the insane need to protect themselves, too. Right?<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 12:00 PM, Art Deco <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">God and guns -- that's Georgia.<br><br>w.<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 2:22 PM, Tom Hansen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com" target="_blank">thansen@moscow.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Courtesy of the Washington Times at:</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="font-size:15px;line-height:19px;white-space:nowrap"><a href="http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/7/ga-backs-relaxing-gun-laws-mentally-ill/" target="_blank">http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/7/ga-backs-relaxing-gun-laws-mentally-ill/</a></span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="text-align:left">-------------------------------------</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"></p><h1 style="line-height:30px;font-size:24px;font-family:Georgia,Times,serif;margin:0px 0px 5px;font-weight:200;padding:0px">
Ga. backs relaxing gun laws for mentally ill</h1><p></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px">
<span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">ATLANTA — While some states push to tighten gun control laws after the Connecticut school massacre, lawmakers in gun-friendly Georgia want to ease rules preventing some mentally ill people from getting licenses to carry firearms.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Legislators in Georgia's House voted 117-56 on Thursday to allow people who have voluntarily sought inpatient treatment for mental illness or substance abuse to get licenses. The same bill would force officials to check on whether applicants have received involuntary treatment in the past five years before issuing licenses. Georgia also may change its laws to allow people to carry guns in churches, bars and on college campuses, contrary to what's happening elsewhere in the United States.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Judges in Georgia now have discretion over whether to grant a license to carry a weapon to anyone who has received inpatient treatment at a mental hospital or substance abuse treatment center in the last five years, whether it's voluntary or not.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">"Simply being hospitalized doesn't make a person a criminal or a threat," said Rep. Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper, the bill sponsor, in a statement. The legislation now heads to the state Senate.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">That change is part of a larger package showcasing the local Republican philosophy on guns. The plan, backed by a gun owners group called <a href="http://GeorgiaCarry.Org" target="_blank">GeorgiaCarry.Org</a>, would allow people to carry weapons in churches, bars and college campuses — despite the objections of higher education officials. In response to a shooting rampage that killed 26 people in Connecticut, it would allow school officials to arm their employees.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Democrats resisted the proposal, although they conceded it would likely pass in the GOP-dominated House of Representatives. They argued that allowing guns in more places will not make society safer and may lead to more deaths.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">"I'm not, by nature, a worrier," said Rep. Scott Holcomb, a Democrat. "But I worry that the mix of alcohol, drugs, sex and immaturity on college campuses could be fatal."</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Law enforcement officials say they now screen people seeking to carry guns against a database with information on involuntary treatment orders, though officials acknowledge it is probably incomplete. Judges can require that people seeking a license authorize the release of treatment records and allow the judge to get a recommendation from treatment providers. Because there is no single clearinghouse for treatment information, judges would have to send waivers to multiple hospitals or treatment centers to get information.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Jasperse's bill would require that courts submit involuntary treatment orders to a database, and the legislation would force judges to run those checks before issuing a license to carry a weapon. It would also ban people whom law enforcement officials hear making threats against others in the last five years from carrying weapons. Those represented by guardians or conservators because of mental illness or drug abuse would also be disqualified.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">One prosecutor said he was concerned about the provision because not everyone with serious mental illness is forced to receive treatment, meaning they would be eligible to carry weapons.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">"My concern would be there's got to be people who voluntarily seek inpatient treatment who wouldn't be any less dangerous than if they're sent there involuntarily," Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds said Wednesday.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Federal law prohibits giving or selling guns to anyone who judged to be "mentally defective" or those committed to a mental institution. States set their own standards on who can carry weapons. Some states use the same mental health threshold when deciding whether someone should be prohibited from carrying a gun.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:-webkit-auto;margin:0px;padding:0px"></p><div style="text-align:-webkit-auto">
<span style="text-align:left;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Other states like Georgia have gone further. For example, Massachusetts allows authorities to deny people a license to carry if applicants have been confined for mental health treatment, according to a survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Mississippi will deny licenses to people who have been committed, voluntary or otherwise, unless a psychiatrist testifies they have been free of mental illness for five years. Texas considers psychiatric hospitalization grounds for being refused to carry a concealed weapon.</span></div>
<div style="text-align:-webkit-auto"><span style="text-align:left;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></div><div style="text-align:-webkit-auto"><span style="text-align:left;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">--------------------</span></div>
<div style="text-align:-webkit-auto"><span style="text-align:left;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></div><div style="text-align:-webkit-auto"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Ken Haiterman shows off a CMMG 5.56mm AR 15 at the 2013 Rocky Mountain Gun Show on Jan. 6 in Sandy, Utah. In spite of the recent school shootings in Newtown, Conn., gun enthusiasts flocked to the show to purchase weapons and ammunition.</span></font></div>
<div style="text-align:-webkit-auto"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></font></div><div style="text-align:-webkit-auto"><img src="cid:A69556DF-C03F-4301-91A0-08CFD8C89619" alt="image.jpeg" height="406" width="640"></div>
<div style="text-align:-webkit-auto"><span style="text-align:left;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></div><div style="text-align:-webkit-auto"><span style="text-align:left;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">-------------------------------------</span></div>
<p></p><br><div>Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com" target="_blank">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div>
<div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="font-size:medium">There's room at the top they are telling you still</span><span style="font-size:medium"> </span></div>
<span style="font-size:medium">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill </span><br style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><font size="3"><span><br>
</span></font></div><div><font size="3"><span>- John Lennon<br></span></font><div> </div></div></div><br>=======================================================<br>
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=======================================================<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br></font></span></blockquote></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br>
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