NRA and Congress Consider Tougher Background Checks for Gun Buys

In the wake of the deadliest shooting tragedy in American history, the National Rifle Association and top Democrats have opened a dialogue about how to beef up the database that gun vendors use to check a potential buyer's criminal and mental health background. Even though law enforcement and mental health authorities knew about the disturbed state of Virgina Tech shooter Cho Seung Hui two years before Monday's massacre, Cho easily purchased two handguns in Virginia, a state with historically lax gun laws.

Now, Rep. John Dingell (D-Michigan), a pro-gun Democrat, wants to resurrect legislation that would give states money to keep the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) up to date with information on, to use the FBI's language, "mental defectives." The bill would also penalize states who failed to keep the database current. The legislation died in previous Congresses. This time, Dingell hopes to bring the NRA on board.

In 2004, the most recent year that complete data is available on the FBI's website, 8,687,671 background checks were run through NICS. People were denied guns 125,842 times. After receiving numerous information requests about the database, the FBI on Thursday released a description of how NICS works:

The NICS interfaces with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the Interstate Identification Index (III). Descriptive data provided by the perspective buyer is searched and verified against records in NCIC, III, and the NICS index. The NICS contains records, provided by federal and state agencies, on individuals who have been (a) dishonorably discharged from the Armed Forces; (b) are unlawful users of or addicted to a controlled substance; (c) have been adjudicated as a mental defective or been committed to a mental institution; (d) are illegal or unlawful aliens; or (e) have renounced their U.S. citizenship. In addition, the NICS automatically checks criminal history records to identify convicted felons and those convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence and also checks NCIC files for active wanted persons, protection orders, and deported felons.

There are six categories for entry into the NICS, two of which are related to individuals determined to be "mental defectives." These files are the Mental Defective File and the Denied Persons File. Currently, 22 states submit mental health information to the NICS Index through these two files.