Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2015 December 29

= December 29 =

Involuntary commitment and firearms background checks
My understanding is that under U.S. Federal law, any person who has at some point been subject to Involuntary commitment for acute mental illness is banned for life from owning a firearm.

Please note, I am specifically asking about those committed purely on the basis of their acute mental illness not those charged with a crime, but found "unfit to plead" or "not guilty by reason of insanity". (The latter cases would presumably be better recorded and monitored).

My question is regarding those who have been so committed in the past, apply to buy a firearm, and are subject to a check: How on earth does the ATF or FBI (whichever jurisdiction does the check) find out whether the applicant has such a history?

(For the purposes of this question, please ignore the fact that it may be dead easy to obtain a gun from a straw purchaser or whatever, to bypass the check. I'm interested in those who do submit to the background-check process, but don't "self-declare" their psychiatric history on the application form, i.e. they either lie, or aren't asked).

Involuntary commitment rules, procedures, and resources can vary drastically from state to state. And, to my understanding, in many states, their public mental health system is at least somewhat dysfunctional. (It's often observed that for those of low or even middle income, in the U.S., it's scarily far easier to buy a gun than access psychiatric treatment). So how is it supposed to come up on a federal check? Do the states submit regular lists of their current and former psychiatric confinees to some sort of federal database???

Oh... and if the answer is no (there is no centralized way to check), have there been any serious attempts by congress or the ATF or FBI to improve the situation in this respect?

(Note, this is a curiosity question only, I have no plans to buy a gun, nor do I know of anyone else planning to purchase one, so please don't get spooked). Eliyohub (talk) 14:31, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
 * According to the law referenced in the National_Instant_Criminal_Background_Check_System article, one must be *adjudicated* mentally defective. Since adjudication is a legal process, so there'd be a government record. Foofish (talk) 22:15, 29 December 2015 (UTC)

Upon completion of the year, has the entire Bible been read during the readings in the Roman Catholic Mass?
Although I am not 100% sure, it seems to me that there is a cyclical "script" for the readings in the Roman Catholic Mass in the USA. So, for example, the readings that appear in the Mass on, say, February 8th of this year will be the same as the readings for February 8th of next year. And these are the same as the readings for February 8th of last year. And so forth. Is that observation correct? Do they keep a consistent reading schedule for each calendar date? Or do these vary? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 23:41, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
 * This is the Lectionary - the Roman Catholic church currently has a three-year cycle. Tevildo (talk) 23:54, 29 December 2015 (UTC)
 * See also Liturgical year for the other aspects of the service (that is, not the Bible reading) which vary with date. This is tied to Easter rather than the civil calendar, so the service on February 8th will indeed be the same every year, but the service on (say) July 17th will depend on when Easter occurs in that year. Tevildo (talk) 00:02, 30 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks. OK, so my main point is that there is indeed a cycle.  So, every three years, they "cycle" though the readings and then repeat them.  So here is the real question that I wanted to ask.  When this "cycle" is completed (apparently, every three years), has the entire Bible been read?  Or are there still passages, verses, etc., that will go unread?  Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 02:00, 30 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Oh no, even after the three-year cycle is complete, only parts of the New Testament have been read : each of the three years features readings from one of the Gospels - Mark Mathew and Luke, with excerpts from John mixed in, but altogether they don't cover the entire NT. For example, I don't think the passage cursing the fig tree is ever read. And it's an even smaller portion of the Old Testament that gets read. --Xuxl (talk) 09:43, 30 December 2015 (UTC)


 * What version of the Bible are you enquiringly about?  Widneymanor (talk) 09:39, 30 December 2015 (UTC)


 * I have no idea. Whatever is the "official" Bible that Roman Catholics use for Mass in the USA, I guess?    Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 09:51, 30 December 2015 (UTC)
 * This page has a summary of the coverage of the current lectionary. The Roman Catholic church in the USA uses the New American Bible. Tevildo (talk) 10:52, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, all! Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:25, 30 December 2015 (UTC)