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Just came across another article I figured I'd share it.
Va. Tech father: Pass better gun laws
By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press Writer Mon Jun 18, 9:49 PM ET
RICHMOND, Va. - The father of one of the Virginia Tech shooting victims asked state lawmakers Monday to pass better gun laws and close the legal loopholes that allowed a student gunman to skirt Virginia's mental health system.
The legislative committee focused on gunman Seung-Hui Cho, who was ordered to undergo outpatient mental health treatment in December 2005. It was unclear whether he ever received treatment up to the April 16 shootings in which he killed 27 students and five faculty members before committing suicide.
"More sensible gun legislation must be passed in coordination with the mental health issues this panel will address," Joseph Samaha, father of slain student Reema Samaha, told the committee. "It's time that you become responsive and proactive, not reactive, on legislation that will close the loopholes."
Cho was involuntarily sent to Carilion St. Albans Behavioral Center for an overnight stay and mental evaluation in December 2005 after police received a report that he was suicidal. A special justice found him to be a danger to himself, but not to others, and ordered him to receive outpatient treatment.
Cho made an appointment with Virginia Tech's Cook Counseling Center, but there was no indication that he received treatment.
In April, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine signed an executive order intended to close the loophole that allowed Cho to purchase the guns he used. Kaine's order compels anyone ordered by a court to get mental health treatment be added to a state police database of people barred from buying guns.
Before that, only people who were committed to inpatient mental hospitals were entered into the database that licensed firearms dealers use to run instant background checks on prospective buyers.
The main topic Monday was on who ensures that people ordered to receive involuntary mental health treatment actually get it. Legal and mental health experts walked the committee through the complexities of Virginia's emergency mental health system.
"The code is not clear about the monitoring responsibility," said James Stewart, the state's inspector general for mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse services. "There's a lot of confusion surrounding that part of the code."
Several of the victims' families plan to meet with Kaine on Saturday over being left out of the governor's panel investigating the tragedy. Last week, families at the panel's meeting said they felt ostracized because they have no representative.
Panel Chairman W. Gerald Massengill said then that it is important for the panel to remain objective and not be driven by emotions.
Thomas Fadoul, an attorney working with many of the families, said Monday that the families want an apology for any notion that they may be too emotional or unable to ask intelligent questions.
Last week, members of the governor's panel obtained university mental health records of the student gunman after weeks of negotiation with his family.
The families want full and open access to all of Cho's records instead of waiting for his family's consent, Fadoul said.
"Quite frankly, the families don't want to depend on consent by the Cho family for every single thing that they need to find," Fadoul said.
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Associated Press Writer Lubna Takruri in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.