01-11-2011, 03:35 AM
Grace62 wrote:
What I don't get is how he passed the background check (there was one done by the FBI) with a criminal record and after having been expelled from a public community college as an adult for aggressive, threatening behavior. He was told he had to have a mental health clearance to return, so there was little doubt as to what was going on there. He was considered dangerous.
That should create a flag of some sort to prevent him from buying a weapon, I would think.
Although there may be some variation among the states, I don't believe there is meaningful enforcement of the mentally ill aspect of the federal gun law. The "background check" would have simply been a computer check of the NCIC database for any prohibition entered in the system. The info is sent in to NCIC by the states, and most (maybe all, maybe some?) states don't really report mental health commitment orders to the feds for this purpose. And I am pretty sure to be "brady disqualified" for a mental illness requires at minimum either a civil order of commitment or some other court decision in order to qualify.