Reply #47

Prohibited from owning a firearm for life, if the disability was severe or continuing. Not all those commitments are the same, and there are time limits on imposing a person to reside in the 'least restrictive setting,' that is, after they leave the place of being committed.

There are less funds and a push to criminalize the 'mentally ill' because of that, not because of a hatred or disdain of them. Those who favor 'starve the beast' to weaken government don't care who gets hurt and the decades of experts and the knowledge they have to serve these populations of people are leaving these fields.

When a person's 'least restrictive setting' by law is the street, or with their families or friends, and they have an episode that cannot be dealt with in an unstructured environment, the police end up being called. By the time one gets to that point, the outcome is uncertain, as they cannot be expected the level of threat a person presents to them or others.

Some states have changed their laws to prevent controlling or greedy relatives from committing family members to force them to their will or to take their assets, and changes have been made. But the overall cause of these incidents is the moves that Nixon made to close the standard places for care, once offered to many. This will continue as the funding continues to be cut from all social safety net programs.