Tom Walker/Washington Bureau Chief
Washington D.C., March 19 - Under federal law it's illegal for someone to buy a gun who has been institutionalized involuntarily or found mentally deficient by a court.
But like most states, Indiana has no way to enter that kind of information into the federal system for instant background checks.
Gun control advocates, like David Mitchel with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, have long considered that a major loophole. "You know the Hinckleys of the world shouldn't be allowed to walk in and buy a gun, c'mon, that's common sensical."
In Ohio Charles McCoy appears to have bought a gun perfectly legally, despite a history of paranoid schizophrenia.
Indiana State Police say they face a big roadblock getting information of the kind that might prevent such gun sales.
Some say the instant checks now used make it all the more difficult.
Jeff Modisett is a former Indiana Attorney General. "We're still not at the point where the technology is such that you really can get instantaneous and comprehensive records, whether or not someone has a criminal record, let alone a mental health problem."
But advocates for the mentally ill say access to those records would do more to invade privacy than stop gun crime.
"In terms of violence and mental illness," Michael Faenze with the National Mental Health Association says, "studies have shown that there's very little correlation between violent acts and having a psychological disorder."
McCoy's arrest may become another case study in an issue that was already a hot one on Capitol Hill, how well background checks designed to keep guns out of the hands of potentially violent offenders are working.
A proposal in Congress would provide states with $375 million to help states improve their record-keeping on prohibited gun buyers, including the mentally ill.
