- Joined
- Nov 5, 2010
- Messages
- 40,892
It's a fine line. We don't really have a good legal standard. Maybe we should. This is happening too often. It's not a gun control problem in this country, it's a massive mental health problem.
We already have workable legal standards: "reasonable suspicion", "probable cause", and "beyond a reasonable doubt".
Either you have those things (or can develop them), or you don't.
After an investigation predicated on the existence of "reasonable suspicion", if it can be shown that there is "probable cause" to think that someone has committed or is going to commit a crime, then arrest and charge them appropriately. They can then temporarily be deprived of certain liberties (such as keeping & bearing arms), until they are tried on the relevant charge(s). If they are found guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt", then the deprivation of their liberties may be extended further. If they are found "not guilty", then any liberties of which they have been temporarily deprived should be fully restored to them. (All this is called "due process", and it's exactly what we've supposedly been doing all along.)
So-called "mental illness", by itself, is simply not sufficient to satisfy any of those standards (let alone all of them).
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