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Kaine May Seek More Data for Gun Sales
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With no mandate to report that for inclusion in the background check system, there is no way for the federal government to have enforced its broader interpretation of the Brady law, experts said. Even in states that do report mental health information, Cho probably would not have been flagged, they said.
For example, in Missouri, one of 22 reporting states, state law prohibits anyone who has been judged mentally incompetent or committed to a mental health facility from buying a gun.
"But we only send information if someone's been found criminally guilty by reason of insanity and committed to an institution," said Capt. Timothy P. McGrail of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. "Even though the law says we must send more, we don't. . . . The system is not perfect."
People on both sides of the gun debate -- those pushing for more restrictions and those who say that restrictions infringe upon Second Amendment rights -- agree that guns do not belong in the hands of the dangerously mentally ill. The National Rifle Association says that gun rights should be restored when a person is judged to be mentally competent. Both sides say that the instant background reporting system needs to be improved.
Kaine's order, which he first announced on WTOP Radio, would add to the information available at the time of purchase. His staff is researching whether it would need legislative approval.
"The process needs to be streamlined so there's no doubt about who gets entered and who doesn't get entered" into the system, said Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle (R-Virginia Beach), who chairs the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, where most gun legislation is considered.
Carol Ulrich, president of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in Northern Virginia, said she assumed that someone such as Cho would have been barred from buying a gun. Someone who has been involuntarily ordered to seek outpatient treatment, as Cho was, is technically in the same position as someone who has been involuntarily ordered to a mental facility, she said.
"The finding of mental illness and the degree of danger is the same," Ulrich said. "If they're a danger to themselves, in general, that means you believe there's a risk of suicide. So you would not want that person buying a gun."
Staff writer Bill Turque contributed to this report.
