Bobby Jindal seeks law to keep guns out of reach of mentally challenged
14 Jan 2013 6:18 AM IST
As the US debates its gun control laws, Louisiana's Indian American Governor Bobby Jindal is seeking a law that will keep guns out of hands of the mentally ill while allowing other citizens to own weapons.In an effort to reduce gun-related deaths and injury, Jindal says he will seek legislation to improve gun safety in Louisiana by enabling the state to report to the federally administered National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) database an individual's eligibility to purchase firearms based on mental health records.
The ‘relief from disabilities’ provision will protect the rights of healthy, law-abiding citizens and allow Louisiana to utilise federal funding for NICS.
Similar laws exist in Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Jindal said passage of such legislation would enhance gun safety and mental health reporting standards in Louisiana.
‘Too often, both in Louisiana and in states across the nation, the mentally ill are slipping through the cracks and getting lost in the system,’ Jindal said.
POLICE SHOOT GUNMAN IN SAN DIEGO THEATRE
Police shot and critically wounded a gunman in a movie theater as more than a dozen moviegoers ducked for cover on the floor. No moviegoers or officers were hurt in the shooting inside Reading Cinemas Carmel Mountain in northern San Diego, officer David Stafford said. It was the second shooting at a San Diego County movie theater in as many days.
The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to a hospital with several gunshot wounds and was expected to survive, Capt Terry McManus told the U-T San Diego daily.
Witnesses reported seeing him confront his 19-year-old girlfriend at a parking lot across the street.
The ‘relief from disabilities’ provision will protect the rights of healthy, law-abiding citizens and allow Louisiana to utilise federal funding for NICS.
Similar laws exist in Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Jindal said passage of such legislation would enhance gun safety and mental health reporting standards in Louisiana.
‘Too often, both in Louisiana and in states across the nation, the mentally ill are slipping through the cracks and getting lost in the system,’ Jindal said.
POLICE SHOOT GUNMAN IN SAN DIEGO THEATRE
Police shot and critically wounded a gunman in a movie theater as more than a dozen moviegoers ducked for cover on the floor. No moviegoers or officers were hurt in the shooting inside Reading Cinemas Carmel Mountain in northern San Diego, officer David Stafford said. It was the second shooting at a San Diego County movie theater in as many days.
The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to a hospital with several gunshot wounds and was expected to survive, Capt Terry McManus told the U-T San Diego daily.
Witnesses reported seeing him confront his 19-year-old girlfriend at a parking lot across the street.
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