Bloomberg News (6/19, French) reports that nearly half of North Carolina physicians indicated that “they don’t feel qualified to judge a person’s mental competency to carry a concealed weapon, according to a survey, despite being asked to make that call by local sheriffs.” The survey, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, indicated that “among medical professionals, 84 percent said they would prefer someone with specific training assess a patient’s mental and physical ability to safely have a concealed gun.” Among “those surveyed, 47 percent said they couldn’t adequately assess a person’s mental fitness to carry a firearm.”
HealthDay (6/19) reports that the survey indicated that “21 percent had been asked in the past year to sign “competency permits” for patients to carry a concealed weapon.” A physician, “by signing…attests to the patient’s mental and physical ability to safely carry a firearm.” However, “the problem, experts say, is that there are no standard definitions of physical or mental ‘competence,’ and doctors have been left to make those calls on their own.”
Related Links:
— “Doctors Say Not Qualified When Asked About Gun Permits,” Marie French, Bloomberg News, June 18, 2014.