PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Megan E. Nagle
AU  - Kaustubh G. Joshi
AU  - Richard L. Frierson
AU  - Martin W. Durkin
AU  - Alexandra Karydi
TI  - Knowledge and Attitudes of Psychiatrists About the Gun Rights of Persons With Mental Illness
AID  - 10.29158/JAAPL.200050-20
DP  - 2021 Mar 01
TA  - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
PG  - 28--37
VI  - 49
IP  - 1
4099  - http://jaapl.org/content/49/1/28.short
4100  - http://jaapl.org/content/49/1/28.full
SO  - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2021 Mar 01; 49
AB  - Individuals with mental illness have often been misperceived by the public to pose a higher risk of violence to others. Consequently, the United States government and many individual states have enacted laws barring firearm access for certain individuals with mental illness. Many of these laws allow for eventual restoration of firearm access (i.e., relief from firearm disability (RFD)). This study assesses the knowledge base and attitudes of psychiatrists practicing in South Carolina regarding these gun laws. Results of this study indicate that psychiatrists in South Carolina have significant knowledge deficits pertaining to gun laws that both restrict gun ownership and allow restoration of gun ownership rights for persons with mental illness; these deficits may apply to practitioners in other states as well. The only variable that predicted a greater knowledge about limitations on gun rights was whether a psychiatrist had a patient who was prohibited from gun ownership. South Carolina psychiatrists had more favorable attitudes about restricting gun access for persons with mental illness than about supporting the right of persons with mental illness to own a gun. Finally, if psychiatrists owned a firearm, they were more likely to support the right of persons with mental illness to own a firearm.