8 Modern Healthcare | August 12, 2019
Policy
would review the bipartisan House-
passed legislation and understood our
interest in moving as quickly as possible
to help save lives,” Schumer and Pelosi
said in a joint statement after their sepa-
rate discussions with Trump.
There’s also a bipartisan proposal
from Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Joe
Manchin (D-W.Va.) on background
checks floating in the upper cham-
ber—a measure that the gun lobby sank
when it came up years ago.
And some former GOP opponents of
gun control changed their stance last
week. Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who
lives in Dayton, tweeted out his support
for “legislation that prevents the sale of
military-style weapons to civilians, a
magazine limit, and red-
flag legislation.”
Both “red-flag” laws
and comprehensive back-
ground checks were among
the reforms urged last week
by the American Medical
Association, the American
College of Physicians, the
American Psychiatric Asso-
ciation and others in an ar-THE TAKEAWAYIn the wake of
the last set of
deadly shootings,
lawmakers are more
focused on gun
access than Trump’s
call for mental health
reforms.By Susannah Luthi ticle in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCo-
nnell (R-Ky.) hasn’t signaled he’s willing
to go there, but he’s told three committee
chairs to work on bipartisan legislation.
And momentum is clearly on the side of
stronger checks on guns, with little heed
to Trump’s call to overhaul national men-
tal health laws as part of the overall effort.
The American Hospital Association,
meanwhile, “does not have an official
position on red flag (legislation) as it re-
lates to community violence,” CEO Rick
Pollack said in an emailed statement.
“But we have been supportive of giving a
voice to the fact that violence is a serious
public health problem in America.”
He added that the AHA continues to
advocate for increased access to and
funding for mental health services.
“However, it is a distinct issue and the
evidence suggests that people with men-
tal health issues are usually the victims of
violence and not the perpetrators.”
Lobbies like the APA and the National
Alliance on Mental Illness had immedi-
ately disputed Trump’s characterization
that gun violence results primarily from
mental illness. “Mental illness and ha-
tred pulls the trigger, not guns,” the pres-
ident said in his Aug. 5 remarks from the
White House, as he asked for proposals
to guarantee treatment and in some cas-
es involuntary confinement for people
deemed dangerous.
Federal attempts on this front would
be tricky, since states set their own pol-
icies on how and when to involuntarily
commit adults. Historically the federal
government hasn’t intervened.
Any attempt to pass national stan-
dards on involuntary treatment would
hit a reality hurdle, said NAMI’s Andrew
Sperling. Statistically there’s a shortage
of acute inpatient beds in the U.S., and
the days of long-term stays in mental
hospitals seem to be over, he added. lMedical groups display their influence
in debate over gun violence
MAJOR MEDICAL GROUPS’ push for
tempered gun control gained bipartisan
support in Congress last week, as law-
makers outlined the next round of legis-
lation to try to grapple with mass killings
with assault weapons.
The latest drive for legislative answers
to widespread national gun violence fol-
lowed shootings in El Paso, Texas, and
Dayton, Ohio, that left 31 people dead.
The federal bipartisan proposal with
the most traction through last week is
an agreement Sen. Lindsey Graham
(R-S.C.) reached with Sen. Richard Blu-
menthal (D-Conn.), giving states grants
to enact so-called “red-flag” protection
order laws. These allow judges to tempo-
rarily take firearms or ammunition from
people posing immediate threats.
Seventeen states and the District of
Columbia already have such so-called
“extreme-risk pro-
tection orders”
laws in place and
legislation is pend-
ing in others. Sen.
Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) pitched bipartisan
legislation to help fund more of these
state efforts in 2018 after the Parkland
school shooting in his state. He is asking
for a committee vote on his bill.
But expanded background checks
haven’t been ruled out, even if their path
forward is far more unwieldy. Demo-
cratic leaders are pushing
them hard, and Aug. 8
President Donald Trump
phoned Senate Minority
Leader Chuck Schumer
(D-N.Y.) and House Speak-
er Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
about major legislation al-
ready passed in the House.
“The president gave
us his assurances that heSeventeen states and the
District of Columbia already
have so-called “extreme-
risk protection orders” laws
in place and legislation is
pending in others.AP PHOTORead an editorial
and commentary
on the gun issue,
pp. 28 and 29.