USA Today (3/28, Groppe) reports, “Even as the Senate prepares to take up legislation next month to include private sales among the types of gun purchases that require a background check, there remains a great variation among states on the submission of mental health records to the federal background-check database.” What’s more, “the federal government can’t require states to submit records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).” And, while “the Justice Department has distributed grants to states to help them improve record keeping,” the group “Mayors for Illegal Guns said most states aren’t eligible because they haven’t created a way for someone to petition to get their mental health records out of the database.”
Related Links:
— “Checking gun buyers for mental illness hinges on states, “Maureen Groppe, USA Today, March 28, 2013.