National Depression Group, DBSA, Offers Initial Support for New Gun Reporting Legislation

CHICAGO, June 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), the nation's largest patient-led organization focusing on the most prevalent mental illnesses, today announced its initial support for new legislation that would allow some mental health information to be added to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System database for people seeking to purchase firearms.

"We understand the need to balance public safety with patient privacy rights and believe this legislation is a sound compromise that we can support," said DBSA President Sue Bergeson.

In a recent online survey of DBSA constituents, 56 percent of the respondents said they would support adding the names of people with involuntary hospitalizations to the background check database. Of those surveyed, more than 80 percent had a mental illness diagnosis - most with bipolar disorder or depression.

While the organization expresses a degree of support, it also urges lawmakers to make changes to current language in existing law that bars gun ownership by convicted criminals and people deemed "mental defectives" by the courts.

"It is unconscionable that we still are using such outdated and stigmatizing language to describe people with mental illnesses," Bergeson added. "Products are defective; people with mental illnesses are not. We strongly urge legislators to update the language in the bill."

DBSA is responding to a bill that passed the House on Wednesday closing a loophole in existing gun control laws. Many believe that loophole allowed former Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho to purchase firearms despite being ordered to a mental hospital by the courts. The new bill allows grants for states to add updated criminal and mental health records to their databases.

Other findings from DBSA's online survey conducted shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings included:

  -- Forty-six percent of respondents said too much emphasis was being put
     on mental health patient privacy as opposed to overall public safety.
     Forty percent disagreed with that position and 14 percent were unsure.

  -- Fifty-nine percent supported restricting access to handguns and
     firearms for people with serious mental illnesses, including
     depression and bipolar disorder.

  -- Ninety percent said they expected increased pressure on politicians to
     pass new gun laws affecting mental health consumers as a result of the
     Virginia Tech tragedy.  More than three-quarters (76%) said the
     incident would result in greater stigma for people living with mental
     illnesses.

"People with mental illnesses are not more inclined to violence than those without a diagnosis," Bergeson said. "In fact, studies have shown that people with mental illnesses are more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators of such acts."

Bergeson went on to say that DBSA will continue to monitor the bill as it moves to the Senate. "We understand that the bill might be amended, so we'll need to see it in its final form before we can support it definitively."

The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) is the nation's leading patient-directed organization focusing on depression and bipolar disorder. The organization, which has more than 1,000 support groups nationwide, fosters an understanding about the impact and management of these life-threatening illnesses by providing up-to-date, scientifically based tools and information. Assisted by a 65-member scientific advisory board comprised of the leading researchers and clinicians in the field of mood disorders, DBSA supports research to promote more timely diagnosis, develop more effective and tolerable treatments, and discover a cure. More than four million people receive information and assistance each year. For more information, please visit http://www.dbsalliance.org/ or call (800) 826-3632.