News-Record.com

RALEIGH — A measure aimed at preventing shootings like the one that claimed more than 30 lives at Virginia Tech in 2007 has sat in a legislative committee but will move forward before the end of the year, its sponsor said.

“If your mental condition has deteriorated to the point where you have to be ordered into treatment, society has a right to protect itself,” said Sen. Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat and majority leader in the Senate.

The bill, which is backed by Attorney General Roy Cooper, has cleared a Judiciary Committee but has sat in Senate Appropriations since June 12.

Rand said that senators have been distracted trying to compile the state’s $21.3 billion budget but that he would work to get it passed before the General Assembly adjourns, likely later this month.

Under the bill, if a court orders someone into mental treatment, that person will be entered into a nationwide database used for criminal records checks. That person would be unable to buy a gun legally in North Carolina.

“Stopping those with severe mental illnesses from having guns makes sense, and sharing the information can keep tragedies like Virginia Tech from happening in North Carolina,” Cooper said in a written statement. “We owe it to our parents and students to keep campuses safe.”

In that Virginia Tech case, the shooter had been committed for psychiatric evaluation in 2005 and it would have been impossible for him to get weapons legally under a law like the one Rand has drafted.

But the bill is opposed by gun rights groups, including Grass Roots North Carolina.

“People who have been ordered to out-patient treatment are not a danger to themselves or others,” said Paul Valone, Grass Roots’ president.

Only those committed to a mental institution should have their gun ownership rights taken away, he said.

“If somebody is dangerous they should be removed from the population,” Valone said. “They could pick up a samurai sword and go clean house with that.”

Although the bill allows a person to petition to remove his name, Valone said the process is too cumbersome and would require exposing too much personal information.

Valone estimated that tens of thousands of people could lose their gun ownership privileges under this bill.

This is not the first bill offered in recent years aimed at restricting gun ownership by those with mental illnesses. Rep. Maggie Jeffus proposed a law that would have created a state database used by sheriffs to report when they reject pistol permits. That bill folded due to pressure from gun rights groups.

This current bill may stand a better chance because it is backed by one of the most powerful members of the Senate and it has the support of the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com