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Lawmakers to consider mental background-check bill for gun buyers |
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By Kelly McCormack
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Posted: 05/14/07 07:32 PM [ET] |
In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, lawmakers are again pushing states to provide more comprehensive mental-health records for use in background checks for gun purchases.
Congress is set to consider legislation that would provide $375 million to upgrade state computer systems and ensure faster delivery of mental-health data into the check system. States that fail to comply could lose funding for some law enforcement programs, though the bill does not impose any new restrictions on gun ownership.
In February, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) reintroduced the legislation, which she first proposed in 2002. It has been referred to the Judiciary Committee’s Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security subcommittee. A spokesman was optimistic that the bill would have support this session.
In the upper chamber, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) plans to sponsor the bill, which is likely to be sent to the Judiciary Committee.
“As the Virginia Tech massacre showed, the troubling reality is that it is just too easy for those adjudicated mentally ill to purchase guns, and we’re not doing enough about it,” Schumer said in a statement yesterday.
Yesterday, the nonprofit strategy group Third Way released a report indicating that more than 90 percent of mental-health records that would disqualify a gun purchase are not included in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) said that it has backed restrictions for mentally ill people for decades.
“We’re supportive of the concept that those adjudicated as mentally defective should not be able to purchase a firearm,” said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.
A spokesman for the Brady Campaign, a gun-control group, said that the bill was a “good first step.”
But Gun Owners of America (GOA) opposes the legislation.
“All the background checks in the world will not stop evil-minded people from getting firearms,” said Erich Pratt, GOA director of communications. “Consider the fact that severe restrictions in Canada, Scotland and Germany have not stopped bad guys from using guns to commit murder on school grounds.”
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