The law enforcement agency said investigators “continue to examine the subject’s background to determine if the responses on ATF Form 4473 are inaccurate.”
>>Related: What’s involved in buying a gun? A local gun dealer explains
This review could be related to Jones’ mental health issues in 2022. A Dayton Daily News analysis found that the narrow definition of why mental illness prevents gun purchases does not fit the narrow definition, but gun purchases are rarely denied for mental health reasons.
Gun buyers fill out Form 4473 at the point of sale. It asks applicants, “Have you ever been tried as mentally ill or admitted to a mental hospital?”
If someone checks “yes,” the gun dealer must stop selling. If you check “No,” your application will be run through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
About 25 percent of NICS records belong to people determined to be mentally defective, but this accounts for less than about 4 percent of federal denials over the past 25 years.
“Mental illness is not an indicator of gun violence,” said Luke Russell, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in Ohio.
What is a pink slip?
A detailed court process is required to meet the criteria that would prohibit someone from purchasing a gun if they are determined to be mentally defective or committed to a psychiatric hospital. And not everyone who is committed by a pin slip, even if unconsciously, meets this criterion.
A pink slip is what law enforcement and other agencies call an emergency admission request, typically issued when an individual’s mental or behavioral health condition indicates a risk to themselves or others.
A “pink slip” can be initiated by a variety of law enforcement agencies, from police to probation officers, as well as doctors, and the patient is taken to the emergency department.
John Lawson, assistant director of care transitions for the Mental Health Recovery Commission of Clark, Greene and Madison Counties, said that in the emergency department, the primary care physician consults with a behavioral health assessment team to be evaluated. The patient undergoes a mental status examination and a lethality test.
If an individual is found to be in serious danger of being a danger to themselves or others, they will be hospitalized and detained, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, Lawson said.
“If the patient is not found to be in acute crisis, he or she may be discharged according to the safety plan and referred to a local outpatient behavioral health treatment provider for follow-up care,” Lawson said. .
court process
If a patient is admitted to the hospital, they can be kept there and observed for 24 hours. They will then be transferred to the hospital’s psychiatric ward, where the hospital will have three days to file an affidavit of mental illness in probate court. According to Ohio’s revised law, the court is supposed to hear the case within 10 days of the date of the pink slip.
If the court finds that the person named in the affidavit is “a person suffering from a mental illness subject to a court order,” the court may place that person in the appropriate hospital or facility for a period not to exceed 90 days. can be hospitalized. To the Commission on Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Services, or a service provider designated by the Commission. or receiving private psychiatric or psychological care and treatment. Patients can be admitted on an inpatient or outpatient basis.
According to Ohio’s revised law, a “person with a mental illness subject to a court order” means a person with a mental illness who is considered a risk to themselves or others because of their illness.
“Individuals who are experiencing suicidal thoughts need to be tested to see if they have any plans or intentions for suicide,” says Kim Buck, chief clinical officer at DeCoach Behavioral Health Urgent Care in Fairborn. “Safety planning considerations include access to lethal means, history of suicidal behavior or attempts, support networks, coping skills, and other protective and risk factors.”
The court process for determining whether a person is a “person with a mental illness subject to a court order” is commonly referred to as a civil commitment. Only after a person commits a crime is that information shared with the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). According to BCI, BCI records such as civil commitments and privilege hearings will be shared with NICS.
Getting a pink slip may never lead to a civil commitment.
“In many cases, the application for emergency admission is completed and the probate court is not involved,” Buck said. “The ER determines that the individual is not eligible for emergency admission (no immediate risk is recognized), the individual decides to sign in voluntarily, or the individual The probate court will never get involved if you were previously hospitalized and your condition stabilized.”
After the 90-day period of a civil commitment, the process continues with a continuing commitment hearing or the case is dismissed if the person is no longer in immediate danger. An individual’s commitment can be extended for up to two years, at which point the commitment can be resubmitted or the commitment can be rejected.
Gunman’s pink slip incident
Many details have not been released to the public, including where Jones bought the gun and what happened after he was pink-slipped twice by Fairborn police last year.
Jones was taken to Soin Medical Center twice in 2022 for suicidal thoughts and admitted with pink papers from law enforcement.
According to a police report in April, Jones said she was stressed about moving from Nevada to Ohio and had suicidal thoughts. Jones admitted to law enforcement in May that he had been prescribed medication but had not taken it and was overwhelmed by “the idea of being an adult.”
Kettering Health, the network Soin is a part of, is not sure what happened with Jones during these visits because HIPAA privacy rules protect a deceased person’s personally identifiable health information for 50 years after death. Records regarding this will not be disclosed.
Kettering health officials said they are standardizing procedures for emergency and mandatory admissions in line with Ohio law.
Additionally, local probate courts, including the Greene County Probate Court, did not confirm whether Mr. Jones had any civil involvement, saying these records are confidential under state law.
This includes whether Mr. Jones has ever had a hearing to determine his mental state or whether he has committed a crime, and if so, that information will be reported to the state and the federal This means that it is unclear whether the information was communicated to the NICS system.
gun background check
The FBI established NICS in 1998 in response to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which amended the 1968 Gun Control Act and was signed into law in 1993. The Brady Act required federal firearms licensees to require background checks on prospective firearm transferees.
In most cases, the NICS test takes only a minute or so to process after completing ATF Form 4473, and the FBI says NICS has an “instant adjudication” rate of over 90%. Checks can be made by phone or electronic check.
If the background check results in a federal denial, there is an appeals process if the buyer wishes to challenge the decision.
In some cases, the result of the check is not an immediate approval or denial, but a delayed response indicating that the information on the ATF form matches records searched by NICS, requiring additional investigation before NICS makes a final decision. may be required. If the transaction is not resolved within the allowed three business days, it will be at the seller’s discretion whether to transfer the firearm, the FBI said.
Some states, with the exception of Ohio, are “window” states, meaning that licensed firearms dealers contact state agencies rather than NICS to initiate background checks.
Ohio law does not require unlicensed sellers to conduct background checks on buyers, but it prohibits them from selling or providing guns to individuals who are prohibited from possessing firearms.
Prohibition on purchasing and possessing guns
Since NICS’ creation, its index has accumulated millions of records for people prohibited by federal or state law from receiving firearms. The top three types of records that make up the NICS index include a history of being in the country illegally, a conviction as mentally retarded, and certain criminal histories that resulted in a sentence of one year in prison or two years or more in the case of a misdemeanor. It will be.
As of November 30, NICS had more than 14 million records related to illegal immigration status, nearly 7.5 million records regarding mentally ill persons, and approximately 5.3 million records related to criminal history.
Other reasons for refusing to purchase a gun include a history of domestic violence, protective or restraining orders, dishonorable discharge, substance abuse, renunciation of citizenship, pending prosecution, or being a fugitive.
ATF says NICS has approximately 30.5 million records of people prohibited from purchasing firearms.
According to the FBI, from November 1998 to November 30, 2023, the federal government denied 2,277,274 gun purchases. Only 78,156 of these refusals were for mental health reasons.
where to ask for help
The national hotline available is the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Line, where trained crisis counselors provide crisis resources to individuals.
Local resources include:
- The Mental Health Recovery Commission serving Warren and Clinton Counties offers a 24/7 crisis hotline at 877-695-6333 or crisis text line 4Hope at 741741.
- The Butler County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services Board crisis line is 1-844-4CRISIS or 1-844-427-4747.
- Montgomery County’s Crisis Call Center can be reached at 833-580-CALL (2255). The center is operated by RI International, a nonprofit organization that provides mental and behavioral health services.
- The Miami Valley Warmline is 937-528-7777 and is available Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- The Clark County Crisis Hotline is 937-399-9500 and the Greene County Crisis Hotline is 937-376-8701. Thrive operates warm lines in Clark, Greene and Madison counties. A Warmline is a phone number that individuals can call to instantly receive anonymous 24/7 support, referrals to community resources, and transfer to 988 if needed. The warmline phone number is (937) 662-9080.
- The Tri-County Restorative Mental Health Services Authority, serving Darke, Miami and Shelby counties, offers a 24-hour crisis hotline at 800-351-7347.