Until we get that we're just playing wack-a-mole.
Look at this story from Texas, for example:
www.propublica.org
But 13 years after the legislation became law, following a string of mass shootings carried out by troubled young men, an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune has uncovered a major gap in the law and its implementation.
Despite language in Naishtat’s bill that says local courts should report to the state’s top law enforcement agency any time a judge orders any person, regardless of age, to receive inpatient mental health treatment, the news organizations found that they are not reporting juvenile records because of problems with the way the law was written, vague guidance from the state and conflicts with other Texas laws.
The widespread reporting failures are all the more important today because Congress passed legislation last month that requires checks of various state databases that should include juvenile mental health records for would-be gun buyers under 21. The bipartisan measure was passed swiftly after the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde that left 21 dead.
Currently, Texans who were involuntarily committed to a mental institution as minors aren’t ending up in NICS, so as soon as they turn 18 they can walk into a federally licensed gun shop and legally acquire a rifle because they will pass the required background check, assuming they do not have criminal records. (Americans typically have to be 21 to purchase handguns.)
County and district court clerks and juvenile probation officials in five of the state’s six largest counties, as well as Uvalde County, told the news organizations they weren’t reporting juvenile mental health commitments, either as a matter of policy or because they didn’t think they had to. These include Harris, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis and Collin.
Look at this story from Texas, for example:
Critical Omissions Plague Texas Gun Background Check Law
Texas officials tried to require that the state report all court-ordered mental health hospitalizations to a federal gun background check system. Juveniles have been left out.
www.propublica.org
Critical Omissions Plague Texas Gun Background Check Law
Texas officials tried to require that the state report all court-ordered mental health hospitalizations to a federal gun background check system. Juveniles have been left out.
But 13 years after the legislation became law, following a string of mass shootings carried out by troubled young men, an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune has uncovered a major gap in the law and its implementation.
Despite language in Naishtat’s bill that says local courts should report to the state’s top law enforcement agency any time a judge orders any person, regardless of age, to receive inpatient mental health treatment, the news organizations found that they are not reporting juvenile records because of problems with the way the law was written, vague guidance from the state and conflicts with other Texas laws.
The widespread reporting failures are all the more important today because Congress passed legislation last month that requires checks of various state databases that should include juvenile mental health records for would-be gun buyers under 21. The bipartisan measure was passed swiftly after the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde that left 21 dead.
Currently, Texans who were involuntarily committed to a mental institution as minors aren’t ending up in NICS, so as soon as they turn 18 they can walk into a federally licensed gun shop and legally acquire a rifle because they will pass the required background check, assuming they do not have criminal records. (Americans typically have to be 21 to purchase handguns.)
County and district court clerks and juvenile probation officials in five of the state’s six largest counties, as well as Uvalde County, told the news organizations they weren’t reporting juvenile mental health commitments, either as a matter of policy or because they didn’t think they had to. These include Harris, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis and Collin.