Firearm Disqualification and Rights Restoration Among Adults with Mental Illness in Virginia

This study evaluated legal prohibitions on firearm possession in a population of 128,090 adults in Virginia with a serious mental illness and record of at least one psychiatric hospitalization between 1998 and 2015. Approximately half the study population acquired a gun-disqualifying record of a mental health adjudication or felony criminal conviction. Among persons with a mental health disqualification, the annualized arrest rate for gun-involved violent crime subsequently declined by 35.9 percent during the prohibition period; no such decline was seen in the arrest rate for crimes not involving guns. The likelihood of arrest for a gun-involved violent crime was further reduced among people whose disqualifying record was reported to the background check database (odds ratio (OR) = .7; 95% confidence interval (CI) .6 - .8; p ≤ .0010). In a subgroup analysis of individuals (n = 261) who lost and regained firearm eligibility, 14.6 percent had a subsequent arrest for a violent crime, 1.5 percent for a gun-involved crime. Regarding suicide, 1.5 percent of the restored group died of intentional self-inflicted injuries, half of those involving a firearm. The study provides evidence that firearm prohibitions were partially effective, especially when disqualifying records were reported to the background check database. Study findings give cause for modest concern for the safety consequences of gun rights restoration as practiced in one state.