How deep is a background check ?

[Babarsac]

So the VT shooter purchased these guns legally so therefore he passed a background check at the gun dealer. Now I'm reading that Cho had been committed to a mental health facility in 2005!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070418/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_shooting

Wouldn't this raise any flags when purchasing a firearms or is that information not available? Does anyone here know what data is looked at during a background check?

Maybe this is something that needs to be on it

 

[News Shooter]

He wasn't committed

He turned himself in voluntarily....he never quite crossed any line to cause a rejection on the gun buy.
Also I heard that the information about the evaluation was not shared by the University with the police

 

[Sage of Seattle]

Wouldn't this raise any flags when purchasing a firearms or is that information not available? Does anyone here know what data is looked at during a background check?

Even if he was taken in on an involuntary 72 hour hold, if he were released during that time, it won't show up on any records the government can check. He first has to be adjudicated mentally incompetent in court, with legal counsel, before his right to keep arms will be taken away. I'm not an attorney, but that's been my experience.

 

[Geister]

He had every right to buy a 9mm Glock. But he had NO right to use it to initiate physical force and kill others.

We shouldn't have background checks to begin with. The guns are not the problem at all and it's not the governments business who buys a firearm. Hell, many in government abuse their authority anyway.

 

[Eagle103]

By now we've all seen on the TeeVee how easy it is to obtain a gun in VA so we all know that's why this happened. My question is if the killer would have been denied purchasing a handgun in any state, waiting periods not withstanding?

 

[MD_Willington]

I have my WA State AFL & CPL, and I'm here on a GreenCard and I still wait 2 days for firearms purchases, so either their giving me a two day waiting period or they're digging deep to find nothing... No felonies, never been to a "loonie bin"...

 

[ryoushi]

It's amazing the similarites between the Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung Hui and Virginia's Senator, James Webb. Webb has written disturbing material containg graphic violence and pedophilia. Webb also owns guns and extra magazines. Most disturbing of all, Webb has a history of being an anti-social violence prone hothead.

I hope the people in charge of Senate security are taking this threat to the public's safety seriously.

 

[RockyMtnTactical]

If he really wanted a gun he would have gotten one regardless.

 

[Geronimo45]

You've got to be 'adjudicated mentally defective', IIRC. That means you've got to be dragged up (unwillingly, I think) in front of a judge, he decides that you're crazy as a bedbug, you are stuck in the nuthouse. You lose the right to vote, too.
Pretty sure it would show up if a judge ruled you insane.

You can check yourself into every nuthouse in the world. Doesn't mean a thing to your gun or voting privileges. What if it's somebody who's had something traumatic happen? Lost a family member, loved one. They go in during a state of deep depression, possibly suicidal thoughts. They leave a while later and they're a-okay.

The folks they adjudicate - people like Andrea Yates, I believe. It's not easy to get the court to call someone crazy. If it was easier, you might have relatives that decide you're a nutjob. They tell the judge you're crazy. You get locked away, they get all your money.