WASHINGTON (AP) — Backed by the National Rifle Association, the Senate's No. 2 Republican leader introduced legislation Wednesday that would reward states for sending more information about residents with serious mental problems to the federal background check system for firearms purchasers.


The bill by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, would also bolster programs for treating mentally ill people and handling confrontations with them. It comes after last month's killings in a Louisiana movie theater by a gunman with mental problems put a fresh spotlight on holes in the background check system and programs for people with psychological difficulties.


Cornyn's legislation is far more limited than a Senate measure expanding background check requirements that Republicans and the NRA helped defeat two years ago. It's also narrower than a bill a top Senate Democrat announced this week.


Still, it represents a rare effort by a leading Republican to propose modest steps that could curb some firearms purchases. Cornyn has an A-plus rating for his gun-rights voting record from the NRA, which long has fought gun restrictions yet has backed some bills limiting the ability of mentally troubled people to buy firearms.


Cornyn said that while past bills have been designed to "drive a political wedge" on the issue, his was aimed at helping people with mental health issues to "hopefully pre-empt them from committing an act of violence."


Jennifer Baker, spokeswoman for NRA legislative affairs, said the bill took "meaningful steps toward fixing the system and making our communities safer."


Gun control advocates criticized the measure for doing little to curb firearms purchases. Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said it "does nothing to prevent dangerous people from purchasing guns" online or at gun shows.


By law, federally licensed gun dealers must conduct background checks on firearms purchasers.


Among those barred from buying guns are people legally determined to be "mentally defective" and those who have been committed to mental institutions. But states are not required to send those records to the background check system, which is run by the FBI, and its database is spotty.


Cornyn's bill would increase grants under the government's main law enforcement program by up to 5 percent for states that send the federal system at least 90 percent of their records on people with serious mental problems. States providing less data could see their grants from a broad range of justice programs penalized by the same amounts, at the attorney general's discretion.


The bill would give state and local governments more flexibility to use federal funds to screen for mental problems in prisoners and improve training for law enforcement officers and others on handling emergencies involving the mentally ill.


Less than two weeks ago, John Russell Houser fired a handgun into a crowd of movie watchers in Lafayette, Louisiana, killing two and wounding nine. Houser's family said they knew he had mental problems and had sought court protection, but he was not involuntarily committed to a hospital.


When he purchased the weapon at a gun shop in Alabama, the information about his problems had not been sent to the background check system and the sale was allowed. Police said Houser killed himself after they confronted him.


Dylann Roof, charged in June's massacre of nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, bought his gun after an FBI background check examiner did not discover that Roof had been arrested for possessing illegal drugs, authorities said. That should have blocked his purchase.


On Monday, a Democratic leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced legislation that would provide extra federal money to states that send a broad range of data on the mentally ill to the federal system, including information about the mentally ill, violent criminals and domestic abusers.


In 2013, the Senate shelved bipartisan legislation that would have expanded required background checks to firearms bought at gun shows and all Internet sales. All but four of the chamber's 45 Republicans opposed the measure.

they'll prolly find this guy OD'd in a hotel room soon... 😟

Damn commie socialists trying to take away my guns.

Are you saying your name is on the list?

Clinton's list..?? 😕

isn't that a speilberg movie?

Why not have guns legal for mentally ill people - what could possibly go wrong ?

yea... otherwise half the folks in here couldn't have them

when they outlaw guns for the mentally ill, only the mentally ill will have guns... 😟

cool 👍

It's outrageous. It's crazy.

Incorrect, they are required to call for a background check made by the FBI. That check can be waived if the buyer is a holder of a concealed carry permit since they have already had a documented background check.

I suspect they are going to violate HIPPA laws by sharing patient information, patients have rights, even if they are flat crazy.

---

I can see an effort to require a mental health check to buy guns... that nobody can pass or a required exam that is not funded and therefore unavailable. These ideas will be perceived exactly for what they are, an end run on banning individual firearm ownership. Gun crime shave been trending down for many years according to the FBI. Just more emotional gun grabber Bullsh|t.

---

I think California is already taking guns from people prescribed anti-depressants... I think in one case they took some guns from an uncle that was living in the same house as a kid on the drugs... 😟

It's just ridiculous. Everyone knows laws about guns don't work. They waist money on tons of laws like "it illegal to shoot someone", and yet people get shot every day. Why do we even have these laws???

somethin about Obama's legacy or somethin like that... I dunno... 😟

HIPAA is an interesting thing. It's counterintuative but in some instances it actually allows or provides for sharing info when you would think it's the opposite.

We should all be getting Obamaguns. Just to stop the violence....

nah, no way. the guy is a big time republican. he would not pull an end around like a libtard, especially with his high favorable gun rating to this point in his career.

besides, he'd forfeit his Party dues when kicked out. I assure you, he is not, repeat NOT, part of the conspiracy we fear. He's just trying to find a way to keep completely insane people, like people who hear voices telling them to kill other people, from getting guns...cuz nothing has worked so far.

Them voices can be pretty convincing, I don't mind telling you.

When you get right down to it, this is much adieu about nothing. I seriously doubt it will save lives.

There are upwards of 270 million privately owned firearms in the U.S. Preventing someone from buying a firearm does not prevent them from obtaining one. If one wants something they will find a way to process it. Short of total confiscation, anyone has the ability to acquire a gun.

So-called "responsible" gun laws accomplish little more than to turn otherwise law abiding citizens into felons who find their ability to earn wages is sharply reduced because many employers will not hire them. People who once held jobs which enabled them to provide for their family find themselves with many less options. Many of them turn to criminal behavior so they can continue to provide for their families.

What is so bad about being in a firearm-free zone with a firearm? If no one is shot, what *real crime* has been committed? How about we severely punish those who harm or take from others? Doing so will clear the courts of the truly bullchit cases and free up time so the *real criminals* can have the full attention of the court instead of pleading those cases to maintain an acceptable work load.