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Closing Firearm Loopholes Explored

May 11, 2007

By Peter Hardin

WASHINGTON — In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, Congress is looking at ways to close legal loopholes that let some dangerous people buy firearms.

A House panel took up that topic yesterday and heard from activists who questioned whether the fatal shooting of 32 students and faculty could have been prevented.

The panel chairman, Democratic Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, concluded that more can be expected from the states and from Washington, too.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence, said Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho's history of mental illness should have disqualified him from buying handguns after a background check.

"We need to close this lethal loophole," Helmke told the House domestic policy subcommittee.

In 28 states, he said, relevant mental-health orders are not made available for the U.S. database for gun purchase background checks, "so many people can buy guns even though they're prohibited by federal law."

Twenty-two states voluntarily contribute that mental-health data for the database, and Virginia is a leader among them, the panel was told.

Cho was able to buy two firearms before the massacre because Virginia law implied that a mentally ill person had to be committed to a facility for the information to be furnished for background-check purposes. He was found mentally ill and dangerous in December 2005 but was released for outpatient care.

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine recently issued an executive order aimed at preventing sales of firearms to people judged mentally ill. New state documents, made public this week, require court officials to notify state police of mental-illness findings for firearms background checks.

Republican Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, brought a different emphasis. If one of the students or teachers at Virginia Tech had been allowed to carry a firearm, he said, "do you think they might have saved these people's lives?"

Several witnesses voiced support for legislation by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y. It would encourage states to provide the FBI with the records needed to conduct effective gun purchase background checks — including relevant mental-health records.

In other testimony yesterday, Ronald S. Honberg, director of policy and legal affairs for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, told the panel that "the real lessons of the Virginia Tech tragedy lie in the failed mental-health system.

"We call on Congress and the states," he said in his written statement, "to allocate sufficient resources and direct these resources to ensuring that people get the treatment they need when they need it."

Contact staff writer Peter Hardin at phardin@mediageneral.com or (202) 662-7669.