I can't think of any way a state can truly know if someone has a mental disease.
A Snohomish man arrested after three people were shot last weekend at the Northwest Folklife Festival had a valid concealed weapon permit despite a history of mental health problems, police in Seattle and Snohomish County confirmed Tuesday.
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A disclosure during a Monday bail hearing that Clinton C. Grainger, 22, suffers from several mental health problems prompted questions about whether he should have been eligible to carry a concealed weapon permit at the time of the shooting at the festival on Saturday.
Grainger was carrying a Glock 19 handgun with 15 rounds in an ankle holster, according to police reports.
He takes medication for anxiety and schizophrenia and has been in a methadone maintenance program through the WCHS Renton Clinic since the age of 18, according to court documents.
He applied for a permit with the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, and it was approved in January 2007 after a background check showed no disqualifying history, police said.
Grainger is being held in the King County Jail on three counts of second-degree assault after three people were shot during a fight between him and another man. Bail has been set at $350,000.
One bullet struck all three victims, passing through one man's nasal cavity before it penetrated another's wrist and lodged in a woman's leg.
Prosecutors have until Thursday to file charges, Prosecutor's Office spokesman Dan Donohoe said.
Under state and federal law, a mental health diagnosis by itself isn't enough to invalidate someone's right to firearms or a concealed weapon permit, said Eric Nelson, state assistant attorney general, who chaired a Washington state workgroup on mental health and firearms access after the Virginia Tech massacre last year.
The Virginia Tech shooter, Seung Hui Cho, previously had been ordered by a judge into outpatient mental health treatment due to a mental disorder. It should have flagged him in any attempt to legally buy a gun, but the record was never submitted from Virginia databases into a national law enforcement database that is checked by firearms dealers.
Under federal law, unless someone has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution, found not guilty by insanity or deemed by a judge as a "mental defective" and a danger to himself or others, he or she doesn't lose the right to possess firearms, Nelson said.
Washington state law is similar, although it is less restrictive and applies to civil commitments for periods of 90 or 180 days. Federal law also covers anyone ordered held for a 14-day period at a mental hospital or treatment center, Nelson said.
"There is no prohibition in state or federal law that attaches to outpatient mental health treatment where there is no court intervention," he said.
The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office found no red flags after running Grainger's name through law enforcement databases, Capt. Kevin Prentiss said.
In addition to criminal records, state law requires agencies to check with databases managed by the Department of Licensing and the Department of Social and Health Services that keep names of those ineligible to possess weapons due to mental health reasons.
"If there had been any disqualifying information, he would have been denied his permit," Prentiss said.
Grainger has juvenile convictions for misdemeanor theft and possession of stolen property, as well as a long history of traffic offenses. He has no record of serious felonies, according to court documents, which would have invalidated his firearm rights.
If prosecutors file charges this week against Grainger, his concealed weapon permit would be suspended while his case is pending, Prentiss said. If convicted, authorities would determine whether his permit should be revoked.
That has always been the cheap trick employed by the anti's, to parade a very unfortunate child or victim to tug at people's emotions. Unfortunately they will grab onto this instance as a reason to ban all concealed permits there. When they try to do that, the only way to fight back is to play dirty and use emotions ourselves. To parade the countless number of would-be rape victims saved by a concealed carry permit, etc.
