And while I agree that people who are dangerous to themselves or others should not have access to firearms, the question remains to what standard and for how long? People do get better and not everyone who is committed is done so for violence.
Slippery slope there Flash. Just because you don't appear to treasure this right many of us put it equal to the other rights and they are not removed trivially so why should this one?
Now I agree that it could be a slippery slope, but I would assume that the NRA and individual gun owners would be watching to see that it is not abused.
I understand that many people might be deemed to have a mental illness or be depressed at one time or another but being declared mentally incompetent or committed for mental illness by the state is something entirely different. I am most familiar with Maryland but nowadays most laws covering committing someone are quite strict, almost always the person has to blatantly exhibit some serious mental defect. Even with people who are very obviously mentally ill, it is often very difficult to get them officially committed. You have to demonstrate the you are a danger to yourself or others, and that standard is often quite hard to meet.
This is all for adults, I am not familiar with juvenile cases and in those I assume the records are sealed when reaching adulthood. Easier to do with someone who is not legally emancipated yet, as kids are, than for adults where you have to take away their rights.
This is very different than 40-50 years ago when people who were just 'different' were sometimes committed on the whims of individual doctors or family members. The pendulum swung the other way and now it is very, very difficult to do that.
So while your fear might be legitimate, my example of people who are committed or declared mentally incompetent would not be one to worry about too much. People that happens too are to my knowledge, almost always batshit crazy.
