Va. governor says he has closed loophole that armed Tech shooter

Va. governor says he has closed loophole that armed Tech shooter

www.wdbj7.com

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Governor Tim Kaine said today he has closed the loophole that allowed a mentally disturbed Virginia Tech student to buy the guns he used to kill 32 classmates and faculty two weeks ago. Kaine says he issued an executive order today requiring immediately that the names of persons found dangerous and ordered to undergo involuntary mental health treatment be entered in a database barring the sale of firearms.

Seung-Hui Cho had been ordered by a court to undergo psychiatric counseling after he was ruled to present a danger to himself. But because Cho was treated as an outpatient and never committed to a mental health hospital, the court finding never made it into the database that federal law requires gun dealers to check before selling a firearm. The law prohibits selling firearms to people judged to have mental disabilities.

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Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Cho Seung-Hui Video-Died Like Jesus
Breaking: Cho sent package to NBC in Between Va Tech Shootings
Va. Tech gunman was stalker; went to mental facility
Federal Officials: At Least 32 Dead After Virginia Tech University Shooting

While I don't disagree that this action was needed, I can't help but get that creepy feeling that this is a "knee jerk" reaction (the first of many to come). Are we prepared as a society to criminalize seeking mental health treatment? I see the potential for a "chilling effect" on those that are already on a tenuous path.

These two excerpt concerns me the most:

Specifically, Governor Kaine is directing the Virginia State Police to request copies of orders both for involuntary inpatient and involuntary outpatient care from district courts. The Governor is instructing State Police to revise SP-237, the form by which they request such data, to explicitly reflect the addition of outpatient care. Finally, the Governor is directing State Police to include this information in the Central Criminal Records Exchange

And:

The Executive Order also directs the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services to revise DMH 1006, the form by which it petitions for involuntary care, to reflect that both inpatient and outpatient involuntary care are to be reported to the Central Criminal Records Exchange.

As I see it, mental health disorders have just been criminalized.

www.wdbj7.com
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[edit on 30/4/2007 by Mirthful Me]

Hmmm, MM,

It is concerning. Self referals to a facility would become reportable. I wonder if that would survive a court test in regards to HIPPA?

Yeah, this does not look good at all. Say your depressed and seek help. Now you are on a government database for just that :shk: That is way more concerning to me. This guy could have gotten a gun even if he was on the list. Creepy is the right word.

I (along with the vast majority of people I expect) would do *anything* to have been able to avert the events at Virginia Tech, and that is precisely the problem... We just may end up doing anything.

Is this the tip of the iceberg that is about to sink our personal freedoms?

Thats the problem. I am unwilling to surrender anymore of our personal freedoms because we are rapidly getting to the point where we do not have any.


That guy would have found a way legal or not to get what he needed even if there was a total ban in effect. Its being done IMHO for political gain.

surely people in usa can buy guns anywhere anyway. will it really stop people that wan to do these things

Hmmm. I think I'd rather have them close the "loophole" that allows non U.S. citizens to buy firearms. Yes, I know he was a legal resident alien, however, I don't think that should ever have been good enough.

U.S. constitutional rights for U.S. citizens (only) ...

There's little doubt that Cho would have been able to make a "legal" private transaction for a firearm, or bought one from some illegal source, the fact that at the time of purchase, he was deemed to have been a "legal" purchaser in the eyes of the law is merely insult to injury.

Personally, I'm against those who are not U.S. citizens (naturalized is O.K.) purchase or own firearms and ammunition in this country.

One of the great conspiracies in my mind is the constant pressure for new gun laws, while there is absolutely no effort to enforce the ones on the books already (sounds like immigration as well... doesn't it ).

I see the potential "lever" here to be a long one.

My reading is that this will only affect people who have been ordered by a court to have mental health treatment, not anyone who has gone on their own.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
My reading is that this will only affect people who have been ordered by a court to have mental health treatment, not anyone who has gone on their own.

it may sound that way,
but let's say someone goes to a 'voluntary' de-tox center for a 28 day program...
eventually even That could be defined as a mental health facility,
and if the staff & Doctors at the de-tox determine that your not 'cured'
at the end ofthe 28 day program...it could take a court action for you to be released back into society.


Here's another scenario..........
some years future, all the school aged kids that are currently being medicated with Prozac and other behavior modification meds,
may find themselves barred from owning firearms altogether,
because of the type of meds they were on had since been listed on the
schedule of drugs associated with mental health & social stability issues.

little by little, the legal ownership of firearms is becoming smaller