Last April, Elsid Aliaj's pregnant wife sought treatment for prenatal nausea at a medical clinic in Englewood, New Jersey. During the visit, she said something that made a health care provider worry that she was apt to harm herself, which led to an involuntary psychiatric evaluation at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus. Four days later, she was released from the hospital based on a determination that she "did not meet the criteria for continued inpatient psychiatric hospitalization," meaning she was not deemed a threat to herself or others.
Because of that episode, police confiscated Aliaj's guns from his home in Fort Lee, and local prosecutors are seeking revocation of the state license that allows him to own firearms. You may wonder about the legal basis for disarming someone because of concerns about another person's mental health. So did Aliaj. But despite months of inquiries, he was unable to get a satisfying answer, which explains the federal lawsuit he filed on Monday with help from the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF).
