Political Quotes

“Mr. President, April 16 marked the 3-year anniversary of the deadliest shooting rampage in our Nation's history, a tragedy that took the lives of 32 Virginia Tech students and faculty members and wounded 17 more. In the aftermath of the shooting, investigations uncovered that the gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, was able to purchase two guns in violation of Federal law. Due to his history of mental illness, Mr. Cho was legally prohibited from purchasing these firearms. However, the transaction was not blocked because the State of Virginia had not provided his mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, NICS. The Virginia Tech tragedy serves as a somber illustration of the importance of the NICS database containing accurate criminal history and mental health records of prohibited individuals. The Virginia Tech shooting prompted the passage of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, Public Law 110-180, which authorized funds to assist States and State courts in the automation of mental health and criminal records and in the transmittal of these records to the Federal NICS database. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, some States still have not fully digitized their criminal history records, nor do they have the funds necessary to process the transfer of State records into NICS. According to the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the NICS database contains less than 20 percent of the mental health records it should.…”