A new law sets up a $1.3 billion pot of money for states to dip into so they can improve their ability to track and report mentally ill people who want to buy guns. The bill was a response to the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007.
Anti-gun lobbies, including the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, say while this is a good move, current record-keeping is woefully behind.
Background on background checks
The so-called Brady background checking system (formally called the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS) is supposed to screen for felons, people convicted of domestic violence and people who have been involuntarily committed to mental institutions. But anti-gunners say the vast majority of mental health records that would disqualify a purchase (over 90 percent) is not in the system. Even one out of four felony convictions are not included. Ten states do not provide relevant domestic violence records that indicate prohibited purchasers.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence offers these resources:
There was a big misinformation campaign last fall about this bill. An e-mail that spread coast to coast (and hit my mailbox several times in the process) said updates to the Brady Bill would, essentially, prohibit Iraq War vets who had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from owning weapons. That's not true. The National Rifle Association points out:
The only veterans who would be reported to NICS under this bill due to
mental health issues are -- as with civilians -- those who are adjudicated as
incompetent or involuntarily committed to a mental institution.
A
diagnosis alone is never enough; the person must be "adjudicated as a
mental defective," which is a legal term that implies a fair hearing
process. The Veterans' Administration (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) has regulations that provide
veterans with an opportunity for a hearing on those decisions, and an
opportunity for multiple appeals -- just as a civilian does in state
court. Any records that don't meet this standard could not be reported
to NICS, and any deficient records that have already been provided
would have to be removed.
Veteran and journalist Larry Scott (operator of the Web site www.vawatchdog.org)
calls the allegation about veterans a "huge campaign of misinformation
and scare tactics." Scott points out that thousands of veterans who
receive mental health care through the VA -- but have not been found
incompetent or involuntarily committed -- are not currently reported to
NICS, and wouldn't be reported under HR 2640. (Scott’s analysis is
available online at http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,151321_1,00.html?wh=wh.)
Similar unfounded rumors spread that new background checks would bar children who were diagnosed with ADD or seniors who suffer from memory loss from ever owning weapons. Again, the NRA says, a diagnosis is not enough.
Who can't buy a gunAccording to the Brady Campaign, federal law prohibits the following categories of persons from buying or possessing firearms:
- Those under indictment for, or convicted of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
- Fugitives from justice;
- Users of controlled substances;
- Persons adjudicated as "mental defective" or committed to mental institutions;
- Illegal aliens;
- Individuals dishonorably discharged from the military;
- Those who have renounced their United States citizenship;
- Persons
subject to a court order restraining a person from harassing, stalking,
or threatening an intimate partner or the child of the intimate
partner; or,
- Those convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor.
Additionally, it is unlawful for an FFL (federally-licensed firearms dealer) to sell a handgun to anyone
under the age of 21, or a long gun to anyone under 18. While it is
against the law for an FFL to sell a handgun to anyone under 21 years
of age, the law allows individuals over the age of 18, but not yet 21,
to possess handguns.
How does your state handle background checks?
Different states have different ways of conducting background checks. Some go directly through the FBI database. In other states, gun dealers contact a state agency, called a POC or point of contact, which is supposed to check its own records as well as the federal records. The benefit to having states involved in the system, according to the Brady Campaign, is that states may have access to records about people in the other
prohibited categories, such as people who have been involuntarily
committed to a mental institution or are under a domestic violence
restraining order.
The Brady Campaign lists the states that handle their own background checks, those that rely on the FBI, and those that split the responsibility with the FBI:
