Over 60 survivors and family members of gun violence victims — including 13 survivors or family members of victims of the shooting at Rep. Gabby Giffords’s town hall — are hitting Capitol Hill on Tuesday to encourage lawmakers to close holes in the gun background check system.
Their visit will be accompanied by a report by Mayors Against Illegal Gun Violence that finds missing records may help put guns in the hands of killers. The report finds that millions of records what would identify individuals as mentally ill or drug abusers are missing from the federal background check database due to lax reporting by state agencies. It also finds that federal agencies are not reporting requirements to the background check system despite the law that all federal agencies report “any record of any person” who is prohibited from purchasing firearms to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is also scheduled to deliver signatures from 350,000 people asking for the gun check system to be fixed.
The report finds that 23 states and the District of Columbia have submitted less than 100 mental health records to the federal database, 17 states have submitted less than 10 mental health records and four states haven’t submitted any records at all. On the substance abuse records side, 44 states submitted less than 10 records while 33 states haven’t turned in a single record.
The Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism hearing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Read the full report here.
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
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