Why Jared Loughner was allowed to buy a gun
Despite evidence that Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner is mentally unstable, he was never declared mentally unfit by a court, so his name did not appear in the federal background-check database used by gun sellers.
United States District Attorney Patrick Cunningham talks to the press following the initial court appearance of Jared Loughner at the Sandra Day O'Connor United States Courthouse in Phoenix, Ariz., Monday. Loughner appeared in federal court on charges he tried to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a shooting rampage that left six people dead.
Charlie Riedel/AP
Washington
Evidence is mounting that Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner was mentally unstable – and yet he was still allowed to purchase a gun legally.
The federal Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits the possession of firearms by the mentally ill. So why was Mr. Loughner able to guy a gun?
The ability to own a firearm is a constitutionally protected right, and depriving someone of that right involves a legal process. Under the 1968 law, a person must be declared mentally unfit by a court or have been committed to a mental institution to lose his or her right to possess firearms.
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In 1993, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act required the establishment of a national database known as the National Instant Background Check System (NICS), where the names of people ineligible to possess firearms are to be entered.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, such information is provided to the NICS Index by local, state, tribal, and federal agencies.
Loughner's background check
A store selling firearms is required to check with NICS before making a sale. In Mr. Loughner’s case, when the 22-year-old went to the Sportsman’s Warehouse outlet in Tucson, Ariz., on Nov. 30 to purchase a Glock 19 semiautomatic handgun, a background check was performed and he came up clear, according to the store manager. That Glock was used in Saturday’s rampage in Tucson that killed six people and injured 13 others, including the critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) of Arizona.
