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Show he Salt LakeTribune Ti EMO SUNDAY MLOTTERY,C-2 MBARBERI & BELL, C-3 Ml OBITUARIES, C-8,9 JANUARY24, 1999 Should Mental ly Ill Have Right to Guns? Tricky question stumps psychiatrists, police, lawmakers.Issues of privacy and stigmaarise BY RAY RIVERA THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Gracie Verduzco hada history of men- tal illness but encountered no trouble buying a handgun from a federally licensed gun dealer in Tucsonlast year. Days later, she went on a shooting spree that started in a post office and ended 90 minutes later when police found her walking alonga lonely stretch ofInterstate 10. One man was dead and four others wounded. She later said “devil spirits” transmitted from satel- lites madeherdoit. Russell Weston had been committed to the state hospital in Montana, but obtained a gun permit inIllinois. That was before he gunned down twopolice officers in the U.S. Capitol last August. And on Jan. 13, De-Kieu Duy bought a 9mm pistol at a Taylorsville gun shop and the next day allegedly went on a shooting rampageat the Triad Center in American Academy of Psychiatry and gun buyers. And the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check, which moststates or gun dealersconsult before selling a gun, seldom notes mental histories. the Law. downtown Salt Lake City, killing one The question is so tricky, it can make gun-control advocates sound like pro- person and wounding another. Every year, these kinds ofviolent episodes raise the same question, and no gunners. In Utah,only people with felony con- “It’s a bad precedent to have a kneejerk removal of any right or privilege based on what the medicalprofessionitself would say are very cloudy, ambiguous parameters,” said Naomi Paiss, spokesperson for Handgun ControlInc., the Washington D.C.-based group that helped draft the Brady Law. Curiously, the issue was seemingly resolved more than 30 years ago when Congress passed the Gun Control Act of 1968, which pro- one — not law enforcementofficials, psychiatrists, pro-gun nor anti-gun groups — seems to have an answer. The question: At what point should a mentallyill personlosethe right to buy a in? Denying anyonea civil liberty such as the right to bear armsis a volatile sub- ject. When the person is mentallyill it becomes more complicated, raising issues of patient privacy and discrimination. “We're talking about overstigmatizing 4 group that is already heavily, heavily stigmatized,” said Yale Professor How- victions, warrants, domestic-violence convictions and protective orders issued against them are denied the right to pur- chase a firearm. “The dilemma in this sort of cireum- stance is how do you blend the confidentiality rights of the patient with the safetyof the public,” said Louis Moench, a clinical professor at the University of Utah and a specialist in general and forensic psychiatry. “The majority of mental illness would not be illnesses of the hibited the sale of firearms to minors, felons and the “mentally incompetent.” The Brady Law of 1994 enacted similar restrictions. But few states, including Utah, examine the mental backgroundsof would-be ard Zonana, medical director of the type that would disqualify someone from owning a gun.” Psychiatrists agree that See GUN OWNERS,Page C-7 A person witha history of mentalillnessis charged with shooting,killing new mother AnneMarie Sleater. Hot Items in Week One For Lawmakers: 2002, Lobbying, English-Only Olympicsissues likely to keep on simmering BY DAN HARRIE and JUDY FAHYS THE SALT LAKETRIBUNE Utah's 53rd Legislature began last week with Gov. Mike Leavitt reassuring lawmakersand residents that everything possible is being done to get past the Olympic bribery scandal and toward “cleansing” the international process to selectbid cities. By week's end, representatives were makingthe first moveto assert moreleg- Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune AntelopeIsland, viewed from Saltair, is an integral part of the Great Salt Lake’s delicately balanced ecosystem. Passing the Salt Slate resource managers propose mixing Gunnison Bay's salty water with therest of the Great SaitLaketo restore ‘a sagging brine shrimp populationin the south for commercial harvest and wildlife consumption. HIGH SALT Decline of Brine Shrimp,Flies May Mean Fall of an Ecosystem Adding water north of causeway to brackish areasof Great Salt Lakecould boost their reproduction,save industryandwildlife FRESHWATER Lakepide Rail Low. Causeway SALT x = + ene BY BRANDON LOOMIS TH T LAKE TRIBUNE OGDEN — Theyaren't exactly poster umps | MagCorp \ ° Mary Morton Sait fon ~The Salt Lake Tribune finances. The House Government Operations Leavitt continued to maneuver behind the scenesto fendofflegislative tinker. ing in the Olympics. Healso eluded questions about whatspecific legal obligation the state has to cover anyshortfall The Olympic controversyis bound to keep popping up throughout the 45-day legislative session. C8 UnionPacific Railroad. Such a change could improve the But that may not be the case with at gued that the initiative would unite West Desert evaporation pond during ponents counteredthat it wasdivisiveat ing a return to pumpingthelake into a high-water years. The pumps have been idle since the flood years of the 1980s, andofficials estimateit will cost at least way, built in the 1950s and now used by See SALINITY'S, PageC-8 As always, politics is about persuasion But some of the Legislature’s new leaders worrythat the lines between per missible lobbying and unethical influ ence peddling need to be moreclearly drawn. House Speaker Marty Stephens and After sponsoring Rep. Tammy Rowan, creasingly artificial environment that threatens industry, wildlife and recrea- tion alike, scientists warn. to reconsider. pushing for a new lobbyist code of con lake creatures each year. But the department's management proposal released last week in Ogden also increases human tinkering, includ. To counter thethreat, the Department of Natural Resources proposes a return to more natural water chemistry by mixing the freshening southern reaches of the lake with the salt-laden water north of the former Southern Pacific Cause- eck BEBE duct The proposal would prohibit lawmak- guage chemistryfor shrimp and fly reproduction — a boon to commercial shrimpers andthe waterbirds that fatten up on tiny introduced will be allowed to die without acee tion in the Rules Committee unless she can sway seven representatives least one high-emotion topic: the proposal to designate English as the official lan- species like spotted owls or wolves, but the nearly microscopic brine shrimp and fly maybe the best health indicators for the Great Salt Lake ecosystem. Whattheir decline indicates is an in- West Reset Public meetings on lake islative control over 2002 Winter Games’ Committee sentthe full Housea bill that would create an Olympic Coordinating Committee to keep an eye on budgets and help ensure taxpayers don’t get stuck with an after-the-fact bill. R-Orem, spent months gathering more than 39,000signaturesof registered voters, the Housespentpart of one morning shooting it down. Rowan andthe group U.S. English ar. Utahns and foster communication. Op- Rules Chairwoman Susan Koehn are er-lobbyist discussionsof jobs if it tend ed to “impair”the legislator’s judgment It also would ban lobbyists from getting involved in legislative leadership campaigns. Theissue of lobbyist ethies picked up momentum when a US West lobbyist ad. mitted crossing an ethical line bydis. best, racist at worst. The initiative — which had to be voted cussing future employment opportuni 38 neededfor passage House Ethics Committee after he with upor down without amendment — was defeated, 43 sevenvotes short of the Rowan said Friday that a separate English as official language bill she has ties last year with then-House Speaker Mel Brown Brownwascleared of wrongdoing by a See LAWMAKERS, Page C-6 Redford Schmoozes With Young Filmmakers, Warns to Beware of Buzz BY SEAN P. MEANS THE SALTLAKE TRIBUNE SUNDANCE— It could have been a scene from the New Hampshire primary A man, accompanied byanentourageof three or four staffers, walks down a snowypath to a buffet joys: as someone who can nurtureand inspire young filmmakers “Whatever you're going through here, I've been through,” Redford told the filmmakers in the re hearsal hall at his Sundance Resort in Provo Canyon. “I’mempathetic and sympathetic. The idea of put ting out a piece of work, and thefear and theanxiety luncheon, He stands behind the podium, with the TV cameras pointed at him, for what he jokingly refers that comes with the expectation of what's going to stirring words to thefaithful, then meets people been throughit.” to as “just a little intimate photo op.” Hesays a few seeking a momentof “facetime. ‘It's like watching “The Candidate’ all over again, observed Elvis Mitchell, the critic for National Pub- lic Radio and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. But Robert Redfordis not a candidate, though he did play onein “The Candidate.” At a brunch Satur day for filmmakers attending the Sundance Film Fes- tival, Redford playedthereal-life roleherichly en CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS Rep. PatriceArent, D-Holladay, report ed possible conflicts of interest on issues related to Arents Inc., higher education Appropriations, public employee benefits, business/tax issues, child support/cus tody andcertain investments. Thedisclosure was not notedin a Jan 18chart in The Salt LakeTribune, which was based on 1997-98 reports filed with the Clerk of the House. That also is why there were no disclosures for the 1999 House first-term members, happen, is not exclusive to any oneindividual. I've Redford delivered a few extemporaneous remarks at the brunch, speaking directlyto filmmakers rather than engage in his annual press conference, The press conference was sucking up alot of the energy andtimeof the day, Redford said, The two impor. tant things for meduring this week areto beableto meet thefilmmakers and meet their films. Redford’s talk accomplished whathis press confer encehasin past years — to let the 61-year-old actor ™@ More on Sundance D354 director-producer deliver what amounts to a State of the Union address for independent filmmaking and the Sundance Institute's part in supporting movie. makers. ‘The SundanceInstitute was founded, Redford said to create a workplacefor filmmakers to come ex ploreanddevelop their ideas, andinteract with other filmmakers andhear their ideas, That, of course, led to the larger purpose — equally important to me — which is creating a senseof community, a pla come, gather, work and share with one another and gain somestrength Redfordlisted the four programs Sundance over sees to aid independent film: the filmmaker’s labora. See REDFORD, Page C-7 Michael J. Millee’The Salt Lake Tribuc Filmmaker Mechelle LeBrun chats with Robert Redford at Sundance luncheon UTAH QUOTES “Wespend moreon public buildings “Wegave you a choice, Do you want to be shot or hung. Bighty percent said they want to be hung.” —— Utahn Jerome Horowitz on the limited choices offered in the Envision Utah survey where no one lives than we do on apart ments for people who have nowhereto 90 — Glenn Bailey, Crossroads Urban Center, on a proposed $1.4 million to the Governor's Mansion for a new roof It’s very easyto rebel in Salt Lake the so much to rebel against. — Filmmaker James Merendino on his Sundance Festival entry “SLC Punk! ou challenge someone, that is seen as being of the devil. We are not a self-reflective people. — Paul Richards, former editor of The Provo Herald, on Mormon cultur. al abhorrence of conflict and how it Is diffleult for Mormons to challenge @ leader or ask tough questions |
