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NRA AND DEMS CUT NEW GUN RULE DEAL THAT HELPS
VETERANS GET OUT OF "MENTAL HEALTH" DATABASE --
In 2000, the VA gave information on 83,000 vets
with
mental health issues to federal gun database.
New
rules would give vets a chance to clear their
records.
This is one of those stories where what we
don't know outweighs what we do know.
In 2000, the VA gave the names of 83,000 vets
to the NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System)
database. Some sources say this number is 89,000, or even higher.
The names were of veterans who, in theory, had
been admitted to VA psychiatric units. Some claim these names were
of vets who were involuntarily admitted...others say it included all
admissions. We don't know for sure.
The idea was that these vets would be prevented
from getting NICS clearance to buy a weapon because of their mental
health issues.
A search of the VA database shows that many
records about this program have been deleted, leaving us with little
information on this "data dump" to NICS.
What we do know is that some veterans with
"mental health" issues have been prevented from obtaining a weapon.
And, there have been reports that veterans just
seeking mental health care have ended up on the NICS list.
Now the NRA wants to help straighten out this
mess. See underlined portion of article below.
Also, the TSA (Transportation Security
Administration) uses the NICS database. And, in late 2005, the TSA
wanted more VA and DoD records to look for what they called "mental
defectives." That story here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/old%
20newsflashes/newsflash12-18-2005.htm
And, an article here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/milcom/ts
alookstovaanddodformentaldefectives.htm
Let's hope that this will help put an end to
all of the confusion and nonsense surrounding veterans who want to
legally own weapons.
Story here...
http://www.chron.com/disp/
story.mpl/politics/4876714.html
Story below:
-------------------------
Democrats, NRA make deal on new gun rules
In response to Virginia Tech killings, it would
update background database
By JONATHAN WEISMAN
Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Senior Democrats have reached agreement with the National
Rifle Association on what could be the first federal gun-control
legislation since 1994, a measure to significantly strengthen the
national system that checks the backgrounds of gun buyers.
The sensitive talks began in April, days after a mentally ill student
killed 32 people at Virginia Tech University. The shooter, Seung-Hui Cho,
had been judicially ordered to submit to a psychiatric evaluation, which
should have disqualified him from buying handguns. But the state of
Virginia never forwarded that information to the federal National
Instant Check System, and the massacre exposed a loophole in the
13-year-old background-check program.
Under the agreement, participating states would be given monetary
enticements for the first time to keep the federal background database
up to date, as well as penalties for failing to comply.
To sign on to the deal, the powerful gun lobby won significant
concessions from Democratic negotiators. Individuals with minor
infractions in their pasts could petition their states to have their
names removed from the federal database, and about 83,000 military
veterans, put into the system by the Department of Veterans Affairs in
2000 for alleged mental health reasons, would have a chance to clean
their records.
The federal government would be permanently barred from charging gun
buyers or sellers a fee for their background checks. In addition, faulty
records such as duplicative names or expunged convictions would have to
be scrubbed from the database.
"The NRA worked diligently with the concerns of gun owners and law
enforcement in mind to make a ... system that's better for gun owners
and better for law enforcement," said House Energy and Commerce
Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., who led the talks.
The agreement is a marriage of convenience for both sides. Democratic
leaders are eager to show that they can respond legislatively to the
Virginia Tech rampage, a feat that GOP leaders could not muster after
the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. Meanwhile, the
NRA was motivated to show it would not stand in the way of a bill that
would not harm law-abiding gun buyers.
Chris Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist, said Friday that the group will
strongly support the legislation as written. "We've been on record for
decades for keeping firearms out of the hands of the mentally
adjudicated. It's not only good policy, it's good politics," he said.
The NRA reacted furiously to the last major federal gun-control
legislation, a 1994 ban on assault weapons, and that reaction helped
sweep Democrats from control of Congress later that year. Vice President
Al Gore's embrace of gun-control proposals helped secure his defeat in
the presidential election of 2000, and Democratic leaders have been
leery of touching the issue ever since.
This time, Democratic leaders dispatched Dingell and Rep. Rick Boucher
of Virginia, a pro-gun Democrat who represents Virginia Tech's home
town, Blacksburg, to reach a deal. But talks dragged on over issues of
constitutionality and questions over how to institute a means to clear
names from the system.
On Friday afternoon, the NRA finally signed off.
"I've been involved with this legislative effort for years, working to
address the shortcomings of NICS. I'm confident that this legislation
will do it," Dingell said. "No law will prevent evildoers from doing
evil acts, but this law will help ensure that those deemed dangerous by
the courts will not be able to purchase a weapon."
Under the bill, states voluntarily participating in the system would
have to file an audit with the U.S. attorney general of all the criminal
cases, mental health adjudications and court-ordered drug treatments
that had not been filed with the instant-check system. The federal
government would then pick up 90 percent of the cost for the states to
get up to date within 180 days of the audit.
Once the attorney general determines that a state has cleared its
backlog, the federal government would begin financing all the costs of
keeping the system current. If a state's compliance lapses, the attorney
general would be authorized to cut federal law enforcement grants, with
more draconian aid cuts mandated if noncompliance stretches longer than
a year.
The bill would authorize payments to the states of $250 million a year
between 2008 and 2010, when the program would have to be reassessed and
reauthorized by Congress.
Only one state, Vermont, does not participate in the instant-check
system, and even with the threatened aid cuts, negotiators expressed
confidence that no other state would drop out, given the funding that
would be available and the stigma that would be attached to withdrawal.
-------------------------
Larry Scott --
