[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6497-6498]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       IMPORTANCE OF FUNDING NICS

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, April 16 marked the 3-year anniversary of 
the deadliest shooting rampage in our Nation's history, a tragedy that 
took the lives of 32 Virginia Tech students and faculty members and 
wounded 17 more. In the aftermath of the shooting, investigations 
uncovered that the gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, was able to purchase two guns 
in violation of Federal law. Due to his history of mental illness, Mr. 
Cho was legally prohibited from

[[Page 6498]]

purchasing these firearms. However, the transaction was not blocked 
because the State of Virginia had not provided his mental health 
records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, NICS. 
The Virginia Tech tragedy serves as a somber illustration of the 
importance of the NICS database containing accurate criminal history 
and mental health records of prohibited individuals.
  The Virginia Tech shooting prompted the passage of the NICS 
Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, Public Law 110-180, which 
authorized funds to assist States and State courts in the automation of 
mental health and criminal records and in the transmittal of these 
records to the Federal NICS database. Unfortunately, due to budget 
constraints, some States still have not fully digitized their criminal 
history records, nor do they have the funds necessary to process the 
transfer of State records into NICS. According to the group Mayors 
Against Illegal Guns, the NICS database contains less than 20 percent 
of the mental health records it should. In addition, according to the 
Brady Campaign, NICS is missing 25 percent of the necessary felony 
conviction data from States. These gaps in needed records weaken the 
ability of current Federal law to stop firearms from getting into the 
hands of dangerous or potentially dangerous individuals.
  It is essential that States and State courts have the resources 
needed to ensure that the Federal background check system contains 
comprehensive and up-to-date records. To that end, I recently joined 
seven of my colleagues in urging the Senate Appropriations Committee to 
include $325 million in the fiscal year 2011 Commerce, Justice, 
Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill to fully implement 
the NICS Improvement Amendments Act. NICS is a powerful tool in the 
prevention of gun violence that deserves full congressional support.

                          ____________________