MLive reports:

Kent County gun owners won’t have to get a doctor’s note attesting to their mental fitness when they file for a concealed weapons permit, a court ruling held this week.

The ruling, by Kent County Circuit Court Judge Paul Sullivan, called mental status verification forms “void and unenforceable” and negated Kent County’s requirement that applicants disclose name or address changes for the past eight years.

The ruling was a victory for Rockford resident Steven Pikaart, who brought a lawsuit against Kent County for denying him a permit after he refused to answer questions about his mental fitness. Pikaart likely will receive his permit now, said his attorney, David Bieganowski.

“Kent County was the only county doing this ridiculous thing (requiring doctor’s notes on mental fitness),” Bieganowski said. “Kent County was more adamant than others, so it just took this long to get along with the program and get on board with everyone else.”

And it’s also worth pointing out that the National Instant Check System doesn’t really contain much accurate info in terms of mental health records:

After a prospective gun buyer completes the federal and state gun-purchase applications, the gun dealer normally picks up the phone and calls the FBI or the state police. He requests that the gun purchaser’s name be checked against the data contained in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). While the NICS criminal-record database is considered to be reasonably accurate and up to date, the same cannot be said for the NICS records of involuntary mental hospital commitments.

(Guns and Ammo link via Gun Law News)

Posted in uncategorized on December 19th, 2005 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |