A Senate judiciary committee approved legislation today that could prevent those involuntarily committed with serious mental illness from purchasing or possessing guns.
"People with severe mental illnesses should not be able to purchase a gun — it's as simple as that— and this is a process to accomplish that," said N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper.
The legislation, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand of Fayetteville, comes after a student at Virginia Tech opened fire on April 16, 2007, and killed 32 students and faculty before killing himself, Dan Kane reports.
That student, Seung-Hui Cho, had been involuntarily committed to outpatient treatment by a court order, but he escaped being listed on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, thereby allowing him to purchase handguns.
The shootings exposed what Cooper said is a big loophole in North Carolina law. State courts are not required to notify the national registry of involuntary commitment orders.
More after the jump.
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Since the start of the registry in the 1990s, North Carolina had registered 466 individuals, compared to 80,000 in Virginia, Cooper said.
County sheriffs use the national registry to deny gun permits to applicants.
The bill cleared the committee by a 7-4 vote. One of the opponents, Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger of Rockingham County, said he was concerned that people who were involuntarily committed, but not found to be dangerous to themselves or others, would be placed on the registry.
"I'm a little concerned that we would lean a little on the heavier side when it comes to someone's constitutional rights," Berger said.
F. Paul Valone, president of Grassroots North Carolina, a gun rights group, told lawmakers that he has the same concern. He has advocated allowing people to carry concealed handguns on college campuses in response to the Virginia Tech massacre.
Supporters of Rand's legislation said they did not see Berger's concerns materializing.
"I can't think of a situation where someone is involuntarily committed and should be allowed to buy a gun," said state Sen. Martin Nesbitt, an Asheville Democrat.
Mental health advocates have also been concerned about how the legislation affects the rights of those with mental illness. But Robin Huffman, executive director of the N.C. Psychiatric Association, said she was more comfortable with the version passed today.
The legislation sets up a fair process in district court that allows those who are no longer found to be a risk to have their right to own firearms restored, she said.
The legislation needs the approval of the Senate Appropriations Committee before it can be taken up by the chamber. A similar bill has been filed in the House.
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