All states should help keep guns out of wrong hands

Gun dealers are supposed to be able to check a federal database to quickly screen out customers like Seung-Hui Cho. But the system failed tragically in his case -- and it could fail in the same way today, tomorrow or months from now, unless officials nationwide move more quickly to fix a major flaw in the database.

Cho was the young man who fatally shot 32 people and injured 26 others before taking his own life at Virginia Tech last April.

Almost eight months after that horrific day, the FBI has significantly improved the database used by gun dealers to determine whether prospective gun buyers have criminal records or, like Cho, histories of mental illness. Unfortunately, though, 18 states still don't submit court-related mental health data for inclusion in the database, and the details provided by some states still aren't as thorough as they should be.

The U.S. Department of Justice recently reported that 32 states are now supplying the database with the names of people who've been judged mentally ill by a court or other authorities. At the time of the Virginia Tech massacre, only 22 states -- including Florida --were participating in the effort in any way.

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said the database now includes almost 400,000 names of people with histories of mental illness -- more than double the total last summer. California, one of the 10 states that stepped up its reporting efforts, is responsible for most of that increase…

The system was far from effective in dealing with Cho, who made two separate purchases of semiautomatic handguns in the months leading up to his shooting spree.

In both instances, Cho's name should have shown up in the federal database because he had been ordered by a court magistrate to seek psychiatric evaluation less than two years earlier.

But, at that time, Virginia and many other states didn't pass along all court-related mental health data. As a result, Cho's purchases were cleared.

Shortly after the tragedy, Virginia's governor signed an executive order requiring the state to report the names of people ordered by a court to seek mental-health care.

Unfortunately, other states, including Florida, were more tentative. Gov. Charlie Crist asked a task force to study the matter.

Meanwhile, a more comprehensive effort to help all states streamline records has stalled on Capitol Hill.

The delay is largely due to Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who has placed a "hold" on the measure, which blocks the full Senate from voting on it.

Although the National Rifle Association supports the nationwide effort, Coburn says it's an infringement on Second Amendment rights and that the estimated cost -- up to $400 million a year for five years -- is too high.

If Congress and state officials don't close the gaps in the database, however, the cost is likely to be measured in human lives.

The database and the screening it supports won't stop all gun-aided rampages. But the process can help reduce the risks, especially if it's fully implemented.

People with serious mental illnesses guns aren't fit to possess guns.

And people who insist on leaving the doors of gun shops open to those individuals whose illnesses are documented aren't fit to serve the public.

Last modified: December 13. 2007 12:00AM