There are a lot of alcoholics actually that go to those places voluntarily for instance. Another thing to keep in mind is that there is a lot of poor record keeping…

Finally Tim, if you won’t get psychiatric help then at least get something else — a life.

When I initially wrote the piece, I did not yet have a permit.

The word adjudicated is central here.

No, it’s not. It’s a two part question. The first part asks if you have been adjudicated mentally defective (which includes having been adjucated mentally defective). Presumably, the answer to that part of the question is no. The second part merely asks if you have ever been committed to a mental institution. It doesn’t say anything about courts, or adjudication; just were you committed.

I may have been locked in against my will, but the law says I was a voluntary patient.

That’s probably true, for the second reason you gave (that your confinement was voluntary on the part of your parents), but adjudication vs. lack thereof is irrelevant.

That said, I probably should have had to prove it. Nothing, under the law, separates me from anyone else with my past who might – very understandably – not be the sort of person the General Assembly of the State of Colorado wants to see armed.

That’s an interesting hypothetical possibility, but unless the State of Colorado has had a rash of shootings by crazed maniacs with concealed carry permits, what’s the point of raising it? Also, while your article claims that Colorado is required to give CCWs to anyone who meets basic critieria even if they are a threat to society, that’s not quite true. Colo. Rev. Stat. 18-12-203(2) provides as follows:

Regardless of whether an applicant meets the criteria specified in subsection (1) of this section, if the sheriff has a reasonable belief that documented previous behavior by the applicant makes it likely the applicant will present a danger to self or others if the applicant receives a permit to carry a concealed handgun, the sheriff may deny the permit.

Now, after railing against your own state’s shall-issue law, you admit that for all the snickering about your non-committal commitment, you probably should be allowed to carry a gun – a position I don’t dispute. By contrast, I can’t carry a gun myself. I’ll give you three guess as to which of the following reasons is why, and the first two don’t count:

1. I am a convicted felon.
2. Ha, ha, just kidding. Actually, I wasn’t convicted, I was acquitted by reason of insanity.
3. I am a convicted misdemeanant who either has or has not stopped beating his wife.
4. I am an illegal alien.
5. I am a fugitive from justice, and too stupid to know better than to say that when filling out a form.
6. I am a resident of a may-issue state.

Meanwhile, you complain about a hypothetical problem in Colorado’s shall-issue law which, by your own admission, didn’t really materialize in your own case, except in the sense that you weren’t challenged enough to prove … whatever. Forest, meet trees. Trees, forest.

I have heard quite a bit of controversy about my CCW permit course and my permit.

The allegations:

1. I do not have a CCW permit.
2. I violated state and/or federal law in handling a weapon, or in applying for a permit, or that I must have lied on my application form.
3. I am a psycho.

My responses:

1. 

   Any questions?

2. The form reads, “Have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective (which includes having been adjudicated incompetent to manage your own affairs) or have you ever been committed to a mental institution?”

   My article reads “Ever been committed? Snicker. Technically, no. Not by a court.”

   The word adjudicated is central here. I have not been so adjudicated.

   As for a commitment, my parents signed me in voluntarily. I may have been locked in against my will, but the law says I was a voluntary patient.

   As such, I answered question 9 no. Should my past be a policy issue? Probably. Did I lie? No. I didn’t have to. That’s the point.

3. This threatened a lot of people. There were a lot of conservative blog comments about it. If it were madness, why, oh why, the need to debunk it?

   Should I be allowed to own a firearm now? Yes, I believe so. I have a completely clean bill of mental health. That said, I probably should have had to prove it. Nothing, under the law, separates me from anyone else with my past who might – very understandably – not be the sort of person the General Assembly of the State of Colorado wants to see armed.

   Also, I make no attempt to hide my history. I mentioned it in the article, and it’s all a google search away. It was when I got my permit, too.

So, to the detractors that claim I am not entitled to own a firearm, or carry one concealed. I am. To those who claim I lied. I did not.

My point is about how easy it is to get a permit, and about how stereotypical my instructors were.

“Ever been committed? Snicker. Technically, no. Not by a court. Am I a fugitive from justice? I bet fugitives usually answer that one honestly.”

That tells me she knows she’s lying and tries to justify it with that last sentance.