Exclusive: 2 million mentally ill people missing from national gun check system

[kpete]

Exclusive: 2 million mentally ill people missing from national gun check system

By Raw Story
Thursday, February 10th, 2011 -- 9:13 am

The issue of gun control leapt back into the national discourse in the wake of January’s Tucson massacre.

But one of the most shocking gaps in the effort to prevent people prohibited by law from purchasing firearms continues to fly beneath the radar. Records of at least two million dangerously mentally ill individuals whose names should already be in the nation’s criminal background check system remain missing.

Tens of thousands of people's records that would fall into other legally disqualifying categories in the background check system are also missing, with convicted felons high on the list. Yet Raw Story confirmed with experts on gun control that records of those whose mental illness has been legally determined to be a danger to themselves or others far outnumber the unreported information of individuals in other prohibiting categories.

In a statement released to Raw Story, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) – one of the most vocal advocates of gun control in the nation who introduced the bill that was passed in 2007 to strengthen the reporting of such disqualifying information – said, “This illustrates just how severely government is failing Americans who expect to be safe from dangerous weapons in the wrong hands, and just how important it is that we face this problem comprehensively and openly as a nation.”

the rest:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/million-dangerously-mentally-ill-missing-natl-gun-check-system/

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. The statement cited is from Carolyn McCarthy...consider the source

Which means there is no credibility in it at all.

[glinda]

2. If true, would it not be appropriate to investigate? It could be a crime or intentional if true.

[MicaelS]

3. The whole mental health reporting issue is just another example

Of an unfunded mandate from the US Congress. That way they could show they're "doing something" without having to cough us the $$$ to actually implement full compilation of the dBase. I think Congress ought to get off it's ass, and fully fund the system. Furthermore, I oppose ALL unfunded mandates from the US Congress. By gawd have the courage to stand behind your conviction with the dollars necessary to get a job done, or don't pass a bill in the first place.

[Glassunion]

6. Correct me if I am wrong

But the NICS improvment provided funding, however it is not being used. I recall that there was only about 10% compliance and a ton of unspent money.

[X_Digger]

7. I believe it was allocated by congress but not spent..

ie, no budget actually moved money to that bucket.

But I'm vague on how congressional spending works in practice.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

4. Is this a slap at gun rights or those whose obligation it is to serve the mentally distressed?

just askin'

[spin]

5. To see how your state is doing on inputing the names of people with a disqualifying mental condition...

visit: http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/Facts/2011-01-05_Overview_State_Records_of_Mental_Prohibitors.pdf

For example North Carolina has estimated that it has 329,869 names of people with a disqualifying mental illness and in two years and eight months have input only 12,529 of those names to the NICS background system.

It's important to realize that many of the recent mass murder incidents involved shooters who had been legally determined to have a serious mental illness, but who were able to legally purchase firearms. For example:

Virginia Tech massacre

The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on Monday, April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded many others<1> before committing suicide. The massacre is one of the deadliest shooting incidents by a single gunman in United States history, on or off a school campus.<2>

Cho, a senior English major at Virginia Tech, had previously been diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder. During much of his middle school and high school years, he received therapy and special education support. After graduating from high school, Cho enrolled at Virginia Tech. Due to federal privacy laws, Virginia Tech was not informed of Cho's previous diagnosis or the accommodations he had been granted at school. In 2005, Cho was accused of stalking two female students. After an investigation, a Virginia special justice declared Cho mentally ill and ordered him to attend treatment.<3> Lucinda Roy, a professor and former chairwoman of the English department, had also asked Cho to seek counseling.<4> Instead of professional help, Cho's mother turned to the church, for exorcism;<5> one Presbyterian minister said "spiritual power" was needed to help Cho.<6>

***snip***

The incident also caused Virginia Commonwealth elected officials to re-examine gaps between federal and state gun purchase laws. Within two weeks, Governor Kaine had issued an executive order designed to close those gaps (see Gun politics debate, below). Prompted by the incident, the federal government passed the most significant gun control law in over a decade.<82> The bill, H.R. 2640, mandates improvements in state reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) in order to halt gun purchases by criminals, those declared mentally ill, and other people prohibited from possessing firearms and authorizes up to $1.3 billion in federal grants for such improvements.<83> Both the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the National Rifle Association supported the legislation. The measure passed the United States House of Representatives on a voice vote on June 13, 2007. The Senate passed the measure on December 19, 2007. President Bush signed the measure on January 5, 2008.<83> On March 24, 2008, the U.S. Department of Education announced proposed changes in the regulations governing education records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Certain of the changes address issues raised by the Virginia Tech incident and are intended to clarify for schools the appropriate balance to strike between concerns of individual privacy and public safety.<85>

***snip***

The incident reignited the gun politics debate in the United States, with proponents of gun control legislation arguing that guns are too accessible, citing that Cho, a mentally unsound individual, was able to purchase two semi-automatic pistols despite state laws which should have prevented such purchase.emphasis added
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre

[X_Digger]

8. Spin, I noticed a disparity in Brady's numbers (Surprise, I know..)

The numbers in the fifth column are those records submitted only in the last 2 years, 8 months. The sixth column is how many total records there should be for a particular state from 1989-2008. Since NICS came online in 1998, there's missing data.

e.g. - Florida: looks like they're submitting about 9,000 records a year. They should have ~40k records, but only submitted 24k records over the course of the last two years and eight months. If years previous to 2008 were of a similar size in regards to number of records submitted, Florida seems to be keeping up nicely.

Am I mis-reading something?

[spin]

9. Apparently many states were not inputing the records of those with severe mental problems ...

prior to 2008.

Q. What has Congress done to help strengthen NICS?

A. The NICS Improvement Amendments Act passed the Congress on December 19, 2007, and was signed by the President on January 8, 2008. The new law provides incentives to states to provide records of prohibited persons to NICS, and requires federal agencies to do so. The NICS Act provides for financial assistance to aid states in sending records to NICS and financial penalties if they fail to provide records. Importantly, the NICS Act should ultimately help block hundreds of thousands of prohibited buyers who are not presently stopped by the Brady Law because their names are not in NICS.

Q. What can states do to solve the problem and improve a state’s ability to prohibit gun purchasers from buying guns?

***snip***

Numerous states are now taking steps to report more records to NICS because of the attention given to the issue by the NICS Act, but many states are still not submitting disqualifying mental health records to NICS and many states still are not transmitting all of their felony records. This allows dangerous people to purchase guns even though they should be denied.
http://www.bradycampaign.org/legislation/backgroundchecks/nics

I am glad that Florida is doing a good job of keeping up. All states should take imputing records to the NICS seriously.

[X_Digger]

10. Right but..

This table does not give enough information to know how well states are keeping up. The records from 1998-2007 (however many there are) are not represented.

Florida could be 100% in compliance, but you'd never know it from this table.

[spin]

11. I see your point...

it is a confusing table.

The strange thing is that for once I find myself in agreement with the Brady Campaign.

That's rare.