Bottom line: S. 2002, the Mental Health and Safe Communities Act, introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) would make it easier, not harder, for individuals with serious mental illness to purchase guns. Current law prevents people who have been involuntarily committed due to severe mental illness from buying or possessing guns. Senator Cornyns bill would weaken this important prohibition, and allow people to go straight from a psychiatric hospital following a period of involuntary commitment to purchase a gun at a gun store.1

Under current law, if a person is involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment or adjudicated mentally ill by a court, they are permanently prohibited from buying or possessing guns, unless they successfully petition a court to have their gun rights restored.2

Senator Cornyns bill would automatically restore the gun rights of individuals who are still potentially a danger to themselves or others immediately after their involuntary commitment order expires.

Since 1998, 19,010 people have attempted to purchase guns but have been denied by the FBI because they have been adjudicated mentally ill or ordered into involuntary psychiatric treatment.3 In 2010, 7.5 percent of state and federal denials were due to mental illness.4

Senator Cornyns bill would also make it easier for veterans with severe mental illness to purchase guns, despite evidence of the growing epidemic of veteran suicide.

Between 2005 and 2011, approximately 49,000 U.S. veterans committed suicide, which is nine times greater than the number of soldiers killed in combat during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.5

o Access to firearms increases the risk that a suicide attempt will result in a fatality: 85 percent of suicide attempts with a firearm are fatal, while only 5 percent of suicide attempts using other methods are fatal.6

Senator Cornyns bill would lower the threshold for when a severely mentally ill veteran would become prohibited from possessing a gun, and establish an inadequate review process through the Department of Veterans Affairs that would not appropriately balance veterans Second Amendment rights with ensuring that mentally ill veterans who pose a danger to themselves or to others do not have access to firearms.

The Mental Health and Safe Communities Act does have some provisions that would provide better

resources to the law enforcement and mental health communities to address the current crisis in

mental health care. However, by making it easier for individuals with serious mental illness to

purchase guns, this bill is a significant step backward. It would endanger communities across the

country, and make it easy for veterans suffering from mental illness to obtain guns.

1 http://bit.ly/1geGxYq 2 18 U.S.C. 922(d)(4); 27 CFR 487.11 3 https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/federal_denials.pdf 4 http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/bcft10st.pdf 5 CAP analysis; http://www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf 6 http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/means-matter/risk/ .