Legal loophole gives mentally ill access to guns

[leobold1]

Legal*loophole gives mentally ill access to guns - CNN.com

POSTED: 3:41 a.m. EDT, April 24, 2007

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- When a judge deemed Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho a danger to himself due to mental illness in 2005, that ruling should have disqualified him from buying a handgun under federal law.

It didn't.

And his slaughter of 32 people last week has raised questions about the efficacy of instant background checks for firearms purchases by the mentally ill.

Under federal law, anyone who has been judged to be a danger to himself or others because of mental illness, as Cho was, should be prohibited from buying a gun.

His status should have been noted in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, a database of people disqualified from gun purchases.

But, in Cho's case, his mental status never went in the system.

A deadly information gap

That's because the federal government relied on Virginia to provide the information, and Virginia law disqualifies a person from buying firearms only if they have been involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. (Read the judge's order)

Cho was ordered to undergo outpatient treatment, but he was never committed. His appearance before the judge and his evaluation at a mental health facility did not show up when he bought the guns. (Read full story)

So Virginia never reported him, and he was not flagged in a background check.

Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell concedes that "the gap is clearly there in the state and federal law."

"We're taking a good look at whether the federal law would have been an absolute disqualifier," McDonnell said on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

He said state law may need to be changed to meet federal requirements.

Cho cheated system

Ironically, although Virginia law created a loophole for Cho, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says Virginia is actually one of the best performing states when it comes to entering mental status of persons into the background check system.

In fact, only 22 states, including Virginia, put any mental-status entries into the federal database. The remaining states cite costs and privacy concerns as reasons they don't.

But even if Virginia had put Cho in the database, he could still have sidestepped the background check by buying his firearms at a gun show or from a private seller.

Those types of transactions account for about half of the guns sold in the United States each year.

In Virginia, a person 21 or older can buy only one handgun a month, unless he has a license to buy more.

Cho bought one gun, a .22-caliber pistol, in early February and another, a 9 mm pistol, in March.

He apparently bought the .22-caliber weapon from an out-of-state dealer.

Under federal law, a weapon purchased from an out-of-state dealer must be shipped to an in-state, federally licensed gun dealer, who runs a background check. The buyer must appear in person to pick up the gun, and the dealer receives a small fee -- usually between $20 and $40 -- for facilitating the pickup.

On February 9, Cho picked up the out-of-state purchase -- a Walther P22 pistol -- from JND pawnshop across the street from campus, according to Joe Dowdy, who owns the shop.

Cho bought a Glock 19 and 50 rounds of ammunition on March 12, staying just within the limit of one gun purchase per month, said John Markell at Roanoke Firearms in nearby Roanoke, Virginia.

Even though Cho is a resident alien, Markell said, it was legal for him to purchase a firearm, and he presented three forms of identification: a driver's license, a checkbook with an address matching the driver's license, and a resident alien card.

Cho moved to the United States from South Korea at age 8.

Clips possibly bought on eBay

Investigators are seeking records related to an e-mail and eBay account that may have been used by Cho, a source close to the investigation said. The account being checked was used last month to buy magazine clips that would fit one of the handguns used by Cho in his shooting rampage.

A CNN check of eBay transaction records online showed that the account that investigators are examining -- Blazers5505 -- was used in numerous transactions over the past several months.

Those included the March 22 purchase of two empty, 10-round magazines for a Walther P22 handgun from a company in Rigby, Idaho, that sells hunting and shooting supplies. Authorities have said one of the two handguns used by Cho was a Walther P22 pistol. (Read full story)

[herbstin]

I don't think it's a 'loophole' per se. I followed the link, read the form there. It says (in a nutshell) the judge has probable cause to believe that the individual is a danger, and is sending that person for evaluation and treatment, if needed. The onus is on the psrynch to determine yeah or nay. Apparently, it was nay, or he would have been commited.

I don't have a lot of confidence in psychiatry, you are first making the assumption that the psrynch is actually the stable person, and too much of what I have seen published is based mostly on lefty 'feel-good' nonsense than on actual behavior. There is simply too much room for error.

I can understand the concern that mentally unstable persons be kept away from dangerous items like guns, but I do not want to see a blanket law passed. It's beginning to look like the typical far left hysterical reaction is that the only way to fix this is to pass laws that will require anyone who has ever been to a professional for counselling or treatment will be denied their right to own a firearm, and probably other rights as time goes by. So, if you have ever been to marriage counselling, or had libido problems, or were just stressed and wanted to get a grip on your life, you will lose your rights. (It may sound far fetched, but these are the rumblings I'm hearing. I think that a little of this is genuine though misdirected concern, but most of it is just another wedge the gun-banners are trying to exploit.)

Investigating eBay purchases. He bought magazines on eBay. Big Fat Hairy Deal. You can buy magazines for some popular guns at Walmart. Magazines are irrelevant without a gun. High capacity magazines are merely a convenience. If you practice, you can reload with smaller mags with little delay. There won't be enough lag time for anyone to take advantage of the reload gap.

The clueless gunbanners are trotting out their attack chiuahuas, like Larry O'Donnell, spouting their ignorance for all to see: Hot Air » Blog Archive » Video: O’Donnell on VTech shootings — wrong on the facts, wrong on the law

No matter how much you wish for it, you simply can't protect everyone from everything.

[leobold1]

Actually, Herb...it was the judge who made the final decision...not the shrink. True, the shrink had a lot to do with the decision, but wasn't the final decider in this case.

Aside from that, I agree with everything you said.