USA Today reports that while states are trying to gather information on mentally ill people who are barred from owning guns, the FBI's database is far from complete. The story says 80 percent of the mentally ill people who should be on the national list are not.
Adding the mentally ill to the database became a greater priority after the shootings at Virgina Tech last year.
Still, the USA Today story says states are making progress:
The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS),
which federally licensed gun dealers must consult before selling a gun,
has about 402,000 records from 32 states of people declared mentally
ill by a court, FBI records show. On April 1, 2007, two weeks before
the Virginia Tech shooting, the database had 165,778 records from 22
states. The federal government cannot force states to transmit their
records.
But get this:
The Brady Campaign estimates the database should have at least 2
million records. Of the 32 states that contribute, 16 sent 50 records
or fewer. Seven have contributed just one record.
Consider:
- Has your state turned over records yet? If so, how many mentally ill people have been added?
- If your state has not turned over the list, what's holding up the process?
Background from USA Today on this issue.
We did this story and found out that in Indiana,...
