Illinois gun law too little, too late?
Michael Tarm (AP)
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: News
The proposals are attempts to reform a mental health system that came under increased scrutiny since a mentally disturbed student, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech in April.
Unlike Cho, Kazmierczak showed few outward signs of trouble. He passed repeated criminal background checks and had a state firearm owner's identification card, which requires applicants to answer a series of questions, including whether they have been in a mental hospital in the preceding five years. Authorities say they verify what the applicants put down.
Kazmierczak purchased four guns at Tony's Guns and Ammo in Champaign. He bought a High Point .380 pistol last Aug. 6, a Sig Sauer 9 millimeter pistol Dec. 30, and a Remington 870 shotgun and Glock 9 millimeter pistol Feb. 9, authorities said.
A former employee at a Chicago psychiatric treatment center said last week that Kazmierczak was placed there after high school by his parents. She said he used to cut himself and had resisted taking medications. And Kazmierczak's girlfriend, Jessica Baty, told CNN on Sunday that he had been on an antidepressant but had stopped taking it about three weeks ago because "it made him feel like a zombie."
But even under Illinois' new law, it's not clear whether Kazmierczak said or did anything that would have triggered the reporting requirement and made him ineligible to buy guns.
Some argue the more stringent reporting rules could make it even harder to identify people who might be about to snap.
Gary Slutkin of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention at the University of Illinois said the rules could have the unintended consequences of discouraging people from seeking help out of fear of being reported. He said that might be especially likely to happen in the case of someone fantasizing about going on a killing spree.
"If you have these ideas, you might be less likely to get help because you know for sure you'll be reported," he said.
Unlike Cho, Kazmierczak showed few outward signs of trouble. He passed repeated criminal background checks and had a state firearm owner's identification card, which requires applicants to answer a series of questions, including whether they have been in a mental hospital in the preceding five years. Authorities say they verify what the applicants put down.
Kazmierczak purchased four guns at Tony's Guns and Ammo in Champaign. He bought a High Point .380 pistol last Aug. 6, a Sig Sauer 9 millimeter pistol Dec. 30, and a Remington 870 shotgun and Glock 9 millimeter pistol Feb. 9, authorities said.
A former employee at a Chicago psychiatric treatment center said last week that Kazmierczak was placed there after high school by his parents. She said he used to cut himself and had resisted taking medications. And Kazmierczak's girlfriend, Jessica Baty, told CNN on Sunday that he had been on an antidepressant but had stopped taking it about three weeks ago because "it made him feel like a zombie."
But even under Illinois' new law, it's not clear whether Kazmierczak said or did anything that would have triggered the reporting requirement and made him ineligible to buy guns.
Some argue the more stringent reporting rules could make it even harder to identify people who might be about to snap.
Gary Slutkin of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention at the University of Illinois said the rules could have the unintended consequences of discouraging people from seeking help out of fear of being reported. He said that might be especially likely to happen in the case of someone fantasizing about going on a killing spree.
"If you have these ideas, you might be less likely to get help because you know for sure you'll be reported," he said.
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Wonk Out
posted 2/20/08 @ 9:06 PM CST
How come nobody's taking up this point:
1. How a kid who'd cut himself as a teen and was institutionalized was even TAKEN into the U.S. Military for weapons training?
2. (Continued…)
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