Police would be able to take guns from some mentally ill individuals according to a new bill proposed in the legislature today.
Frankfort, Ky (WTVQ): Police would be able to take guns from some mentally ill individuals according to a new bill proposed in the legislature today.
Last May after the Uvalde shooting, is when Senator Whitney Westerfield decided to open up a bill request for (CARR). “It bothered me because the little boys and girls that we were seeing stories about, or we saw were killed, were the age of my kids,” he said.
“As a gun owner, former NRA member. I wanted to make sure that it was constitutionally sound.”
So, he says this bill should help reduce the risk of a crisis — like a mass shooting. And reflects back on the Louisville bank shooting back in April. He says mental health response is key here. The proposed legislation would permit law enforcement officers to temporarily remove guns from people who are deemed mentally ill.
“The vast majority of those people are struggling with, either with miss diagnosed, undiagnosed, or untreated behavioral health or mental health issues’” he said. “Trauma of some kind.”
Westerfield says he wants this bill to help prevent gun-related deaths including suicide. He introduced two different versions of the bill: the first is to notify law enforcement if you feel the person is a danger to themselves or others. Police can give them the option of, “a hearing in two hours, or give us your guns and we hold them for a week. You have a full-blown hearing in a week.”
Westerfield says the second option would be for the person to give their guns to police immediately, then have a judicial hearing within a week.
The next hearing on the proposed legislation is not yet scheduled.