BAY MINETTE, Alabama  — A proposed legislative bill would remove weapons from households and prevent the purchase of weapons for committed mental patients until they have been cleared by state probate judges.

 Baldwin County Probate Judge Tim Russell said he is working with Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack and the Alabama Sheriff’s Association to craft the bill.

“If it’s in the best interest of public safety, the proposed bill would take weapons away during the mental health process until the healing process is complete,” Russell said Friday.

Mack did not immediately return calls, but said last week there is a perennial upsurge in mental health commitments for adults during holiday seasons and the associated emotional stress.

 “Children have a shorter fuse,” Mack said last week. “There will be more instances in the next week and later for adults.”

Due to state cutbacks, Searcy Hospital in Mount Vernon, a primary hospital for Baldwin County, closed in the fall and money was redistricted to community-based facilities. EastPointe Hospital in Daphne now accepts volunteer and private-care commitments. Mack is reviewing plans with an architect to create mental health holding areas in Baldwin County Corrections Center.

 Neither Mack nor Russell endorses mental patients in a jail. But both are alarmed at recent national and local instances in which random shootings have been recorded.

The recent shooting death of Dep. Scott Ward and the severe injury of Sgt. Curtis Summerlin by Marlow resident and mental patient Michael Jansen brought concerns closer to home. Mack has asked for and received $500,000 from the Baldwin County Commission for general health services, including the possible renovation of the corrections center to isolate patients and provide trained mental health therapists for observation and psychiatric drug administration.

Medication costs continues to mount, Mack said.