Privacy Digest

MyrtleBeachOnline.com | 04/26/2007 | N.C. law impedes gun-sale checks: "Federal law makes it a felony to knowingly sell a gun to anyone judged to have a dangerous mental illness, but thousands of people involuntarily committed to psychiatric institutions by N.C. courts aren't included in a national database aimed at preventing such sales, state officials said.

Court clerks across North Carolina keep their commitment records under wraps because of privacy provisions in state mental health statutes, undermining the effectiveness of the FBI-run National Instant Criminal Background Check System [NICS] used by gun dealers to determine whether a customer can legally purchase a firearm.

'We have no authority or directive to report this information to anybody,' said Dick Ellis, spokesman for the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, the agency that oversees courthouse operations across the state. 'Unless we're told directly to do so, we don't give our records over to anybody.'

In the wake of last week's killing spree at Virginia Tech University by student Seung-Hui Cho, the availability of involuntary commitment orders and other court rulings related to mental health on the NICS database has become a major issue, pitting privacy concerns against public safety fears.

Despite a 2005 court declaration that Cho was a danger to himself, he was able to legally purchase two handguns, including the Glock 19 pistol he used to kill 32 Virginia Tech students and himself.

A Virginia judge ordered Cho to undergo a mental health evaluation, but this ruling didn't show up on the background check when he bought his pistols.

"

(Read Original Article - Via MyrtleBeachOnline.com .)