National Instant Background Check System

There are many places that forbid people from carrying guns such as schools, publicly owned buildings, and businesses. According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, over 98% of mass shootings happened in a zone where guns were prohibited. Even though there are many restrictions on firearms sale and possession, there are extensive loopholes that make it possible for people who should not be able to own gun, to be able to purchase one. One of the most common used loopholes is buying from a small scale seller, or going to a gun show. These kinds of deals do not require that an extensive background check be performed. Another blurry loophole involves the mentally ill being able to get their hands on a gun. The current law that prevents mentally handicapped people from owning a gun requires that a person must be adjudicated as mentally defective in a court of law. A majority of mentally handicapped people are never adjudicated and can petition the court to overturn the ruling. The purpose of these laws and its likely effect is not the same thing. Gun control laws are usually more of a state decision than a federal decision. Many states gun laws differ, such as in Rhode Island, any person with a concealed weapons permit can enter a public school, but in a state over in Massachusetts, you must have extensive written permission from the school

“Guns don’t kill people, people do.” This is a well known statement that is oftentimes considered true. However, it is not completely true. Someone who is mentally ill may be unable to make logical decisions and the perception they receive of reality may be tainted by the illness. Gun laws pertaining to those suffering mental illnesses should be more restrictive. Weapons such as guns make committing an act of violence, especially when there are multiple victims, much easier. It is difficult to assess the probability of a person to commit a violent act that harms anyone including himself/herself. Therefore, gun laws need be monitored very closely and made more consistent throughout each state in order to prevent violence that could

One of the worst cases of failed reporting of mental health checks was the Virginia Tech Massacre, in April 2007, where a Virginia Tech student named Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people and injured 17 others, then killed himself on the college campus in Blacksburg, Virginia (“Mental Health Reporting”). Cho bought a gun despite going through two background checks through licensed gun dealers and having a mental health history in the records that should have prevented him from receiving a gun. Although Virginia had some background check laws at the time, certain cases were masked from the system. But, this is not the only instance, in fact, there have been 102 mass shootings in 2017 alone, from January 1st-April 18 (“Mission.”). Though

States have not incentive to share and report people who have mental health problem and prior criminal convictions records to NICS, and government has not power to require states to report record, so when gun dealers sell guns, they can not get an entire exactly information of gun buyers through the NICS system. Therefore, this lack of information increases the

The general public seems to favor the idea of increasing the reporting of mental illness in background check databases and limiting the ability of those with mental illness from gaining access to guns. In an article by James D. Calvert PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Southern Methodist University, cites a recent study done by The New England Journal of Medicine that found that both gun owners, and those who don’t own a gun agree that mental health providers should be required to report those who have threatened to hurt themselves, or others to a background database (Calvert, 76). Another article written by Jeffrey W. Swanson, PhD., a lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University, discusses how the public bases its information on what it learns from sources in the media, which “reinforces the public’s perception of a strong link between mental illness and violence.” (Swanson, 169). This perception then also helps creates a fear of people with mental illness and makes those with such problems afraid to seek voluntary treatment.

Since 1982, there have been over 85 mass shootings in the United States. Of those 85 shootings, three quarters of the weapons used were obtained legally. That means that our background check system has failed. If purchasers were required to undergo a mental health evaluation, numerous lives would be saved. Many mass shooters have shown previous signs of mental instability. Take Jared Loughner, the man who opened fire at a public constituent meeting in a Tucson, Arizona supermarket parking lot wounding 13 people and killing 6. Loughner had been showing signs of mental illness for years. He was even suspended from college for disrupting class and showing bizarre behavior. The college told him he needed to be cleared by a mental health professional before he could return. Instead, Loughner dropped out of school. In addition to his disruptions at school, he had many run ins with law enforcement. In fact, on the day of the shooting,

The rule allows specific organizations to share information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check system (NICS) about those individuals involuntarily committed to mental institutions. This would be a part of background check for possessing fire arms and is aimed as a long term solution for the recent gun crises in USA.

Federal law has made the sale of firearms illegal to various individuals who have a history of being mentally unstable and licensed dealers to perform a background check before selling firearms. However, federal law has not made it mandatory for unlicensed sellers (individuals) to perform background checks. Additionally, states have the option of requiring dealers to conduct background checks through state or local agencies or directly through the FBI. States that conduct their own background checks can search records and databases in addition to those that the federal law requires to be searched. Surprisingly, state databases typically include information that is unavailable to the FBI, including outstanding felony warrants, mental health

Of the 130 studied incidents, only one had evidence the shooter was barred by federal law from owning weapons due to severe mental illness. In 15 other incidents, there were concerns about the mental health of the shooter and had been brought to the attention of a medical practitioner, school official, or legal authority prior to the shooting. Otherwise every shooter had a clean bill of

Metzl and Kenneth T. MacLeish, we can see how these misconceptions are formed. In one passage of this article, it states that “mass shootings represent anecdotal distortions of, rather than representations of, the actions of ‘mentally ill’ people as aggregate group” (Metzl and Macleish pg. 877). Basically, these anecdotal accounts reported by the media do not represent the big picture of the gun violence going on in the country, and it is because of this great exaggeration based on specific events that skews the public’s perception of the mentally ill. Also, the media often makes a distinction between mild and severe mental illnesses, connecting the latter to unpredictability and lack of self-control (Metzl and Macleish pg. 878). But this connection is also called into question by mental health research when serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia may actually reduce the risk of violence due to traits often associated with schizophrenia such as social isolation and withdrawal (Metzl and Macleish pg.

The movement has called for two changes to the current gun law: universal background checks for buyers and ban on the sale of assault-type firearms and large-capacity ammunitions (Szekely, 2018). The system of background checks is meant to ensure that all gun owners have the right capacity to handle firearms. Past incidences have shown that the system was ineffective because the state governments did not submit relevant information to the central database. For example, in one of the recent shooting incidences, the shooter had a known history of mental problems but had been able to purchase an assault rifle and high capacity ammunition. The changes in the background system would make it easier for gun dealers to identify people who are not qualified to own a gun. The restrictions on the sale of assault weapons and ammunition are crucial steps in reducing the number of deaths and injuries in case of a shooting incident. The shooter would not be able to inflict a lot of harm because of inefficiencies of the weapon at disposal.

Many states do not have background checks and or they are very loose and easy to workaround. Known as the “gun show loophole”, the majority of states do not require background checks for firearms purchased at gun shows from private individuals ("Gun Show Background Checks State Laws"). In the states that require background checks, there are forty-eight percent less firearm suicides and seventeen percent less fewer aggravated firearm assaults. Moreover, Background checks need to be more advanced and annual. The United States is usually not strict about checking for mental illnesses in the people who are purchasing guns and are not regularly checking up on the people who already purchased guns. According to Nicholas Keene, “huge gaps exist in the database, which is called the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. For example, the Virginia Tech shooter, who killed thirty three people and himself in 2007, had passed two background checks because Virginia didn’t submit his mentally ill status to the database.( “Universal background check, What does it mean”) . Most of the states in the United States do not check if people who are purchasing guns are mentally ill which endangers the client and other citizens. Furthermore, Background checks need to be more persistent after someone buys a gun. Once the person has the access to buy a gun and passed a background check they are permitted to

For example, in May 23, 2014, Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured 14 others near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara. As reported by Kanso & Trowbridge of CBS news (2014), that someone who had long struggled with mental health issues was able to legally assemble such an arsenal has also been a matter of debate. Elliot Rodger's family failed to convince him to seek mental health treatment, however, he had no problem purchasing a gun. To name a few others who committed violence while mentally unfit are Seung-Hui Cho and James Homes. Seung-Hui Cho killed himself and 32 others in Virginia Tech. He had a court order to seek mental health treatment but order was never carried out. James Holmes, who killed 12 people in Colorado movie theater, was warned dangerous to the University of Colorado campus police. These cases show how there's a crack in the mental health system, and no matter how strictly regulations are amended, if people with mental health issues are not diagnosed and treated properly, then the risk of violence will continue to occur.

Today in this day and age the world is filled with hate and violence and other terrible things. People use weapons and other objects to cause terror on others for many reasons such as power and wealth. Firearms are one of the weapons someone may use to harm or rule over others because of the danger the weapon can cause. Over the years with gun violence and killings some people want to get rid of the citizens right to purchase and own firearms. I agree that gun violence bad, but taking a persons right to bear arms will not solve the problem with gun violence in todays society.

A full background investigation is needed if a person desires to own a firearm. Some people may believe a person with mental illness would warrant them from not receiving a license to