http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/state/14032146.htm

Court hears arguments on gun permit case

KELLY WIESE

Mar. 06, 2006

David Nelson was sent to a mental health center for a 96-hour evaluation in September 2003 over fears he would harm himself. He was evaluated and released with no finding of mental illness or need for further treatment.

Last year, he applied for a permit to acquire a weapon. The Callaway County sheriff's office denied the request, citing a section of law barring people who were committed to a mental health center from obtaining a permit.

The law is separate from one allowing people to carry concealed weapons, but the mental health provision is similar.

The sheriff argues that he followed the law and that it makes no distinction between someone being detained and committed.

County prosecutor Robert Sterner said the Legislature could differentiate between the two "but they've given us an equal sign." He called the right to acquire a weapon "a modified right."

Nelson's attorney, Geoffrey Preckshot, argued that detention and commitment are not the same thing, and his client, and others like him, should not be denied the right to get a gun for life over a mental health evaluation that found no illness. He also noted the man is a Department of Corrections employee and can carry a weapon as part of his job.

"Whether or not he was mentally ill is collateral," Preckshot told the court. "This (96-hour evaluation) order could be based on a lie."

Nelson was denied due process, Preckshot said, because the initial mental health evaluation procedure included no opportunity for Nelson to defend himself or have an attorney present, yet it led to the sheriff's office refusing to give him a weapon permit.

Supreme Court judges asked many questions of both attorneys, but some expressed concern that someone could lose his right to acquire a gun after a mental health evaluation that the person couldn't challenge and that didn't result in long-term commitment.

"Is it appropriate to use it later?" asked Judge Laura Denvir Stith.

Chief Justice Michael Wolff said the law clearly prohibits someone who has been committed to a mental health center from obtaining a permit to acquire a weapon, but he added, "Detention's not in that same category."

Preckshot said the simple solution would be for the court to determine that commitment to a mental health center does not include the 96-hour evaluation. Otherwise, he said, the law on acquiring a weapon permit should be struck down.

"Commitment is a subset of detained," he said. "Everyone who's detained is not committed."

The case is David Nelson v. Dennis Crane, SC87205.

On the Net:

Supreme Court: http://www.courts.mo.gov/sup/index.nsf