Guns and the mentally ill
President Bush this week signed legislation aimed at preventing gun sales to the mentally ill. The law was passed in the wake of last spring’s shootings at Virginia Tech. It authorizes up to $1.3 billion in grants to states to improve their tracking of people who should be barred from buying guns, including those who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution. Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho was able to buy two guns, despite being having been declared mentally ill by a Virginia court.
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