Lord knows that I am a big advocate for a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment, but I have to support this move by Virginia's governor.

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday that he is considering an executive order to make sure that gun sellers have more information about the mental health of potential buyers, a move that would have kept Seung Hui Cho from purchasing the handguns he used to kill 32 people at Virginia Tech last week.

A court had found Cho to be dangerously mentally ill, but that information was not available in the computer systems used by the outlets that sold Cho the guns. Kaine's proposal would ensure that such mental health information be in the database.

"I think there's a way to tighten this and to get more data onto the system," Kaine (D) said. If that data had been available at the gun stores, Cho, who killed himself after the rampage April 16, would have been barred by federal law from buying the weapons.

Even lawmakers who have traditionally been reluctant to restrict gun ownership said that providing additional information would help keep guns out of the hands of the dangerously mentally ill.

"The murderer down at Virginia Tech never should have been able to purchase a gun," said Del. Mark L. Cole (R-Fredericksburg). "Someone who's declared a threat to themselves or others should not be able to purchase a firearm."

Since Cho was adjudicated an imminent threat to himself or others in 2005, he was ineligible to make that gun purchase under federal law -- but only actual involuntary commitments got entered in the gun database, not cases in which the individual voluntarily went to into a mental health facility. This change corrects bad practice on the part of Virginia -- and I do not know a singe gun owner who would question the propriety of this move by Gov. Kaine.

Posted by: Greg at 09:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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