Informing Federal Policy on Firearm Restrictions for Veterans with Fiduciaries: Risk Indicators in the Post-Deployment Mental Health Study.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

This article examines the public safety rationale for a federal policy of prohibiting gun sales to veterans with psychiatric disabilities who are assigned a fiduciary to manage their benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The policy was evaluated using data on 3200 post-deployment veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan war era. Three proxy measures of fiduciary need-based on intellectual disability, drug abuse, or acute psychopathology-were associated in bivariate analysis with interpersonal violence and suicidality. In multivariate analysis, statistical significance remained only for the measure based on acute psychopathology. Implications for reforms to the fiduciary firearm restriction policy are discussed.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Swanson, J; Easter, M; Brancu, M; VA Mid-Atlantic MIRECC Workgroup, ; Fairbank, JA

Published Date

  • July 2018

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 45 / 4

Start / End Page

  • 673 - 683

PubMed ID

  • 29797151

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1573-3289

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1007/s10488-018-0881-y

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • United States