[Brilliant]

who gets to say whether a person is a mental defect?

If they've been Baker Acted, that is a pretty good sign. Or if they've been convicted of a felony.

[Dan Nunn]

Or if they've been convicted of a felony.

You keep saying that as if it means something. After they've paid their debt to society, what other rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights (among others) do you wish to deny to these individuals?

[VeniVidiVici]

I know where you’re coming from with this but if the cops were really all that worried about it they’d position an officer there to catch felons who rent guns.

Having shot at that Shoot Straight and the one in Apopka my biggest worry isn’t the gang bangers but the wackos who want to off themselves.

In the case of the mom and the son, frankly what was the son thinking about taking his unstable mom to the range? And then there is the Baker Act itself. Anyone can pretty much have someone “Baker Acted”. The fact that they’ve been Baker Acted doesn’t mean they’re loony or even been committed, only that they’ve been taken into a sort of protective custody until their competence can be judged. At that time if they are committed then I think they have to be truthful when asked if they’ve ever been committed. But if they are judged to be competent and released then why should they be on any list for any reason just because they’ve been Baker Acted?

I don’t know if there is a happy medium. Frankly, I just go to the range and watch who’s in there for a few minutes. If I don’t like what I see, I’ll wait :-)

[dljordan]

“If they’ve been Baker Acted, that is a pretty good sign. Or if they’ve been convicted of a felony.”

I’ll go with the Baker act but in some areas if you defend yourself or your family with a firearm you may be covicted of a felony.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Or if they've been convicted of a felony.

Do you not grasp how this can be and HAS BEEN abused? In Illinois, it's a felony to be in possession of a gun one day after your state permit to possess it has expired -- even if the state has simply failed to process your application for renewal within the legally mandated 30 day time period. And once you've been convicted of any kind of "felony" in any state, you go on the *national* NICS list as ineligible to purchase a gun.