New bill to make it easier for authorities to conduct background checks on gun buyers under 21
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) – A new bill in the Texas Legislature would make it easier for federal authorities to identify 18- to 20-year-olds who should not be allowed to buy a gun.
After the deadly mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde last May, Congress passed a bill, championed by Senator John Cornyn, that requires the National Instant Criminal Background Check System or NICS to do a more thorough review into gun buyers under the age of 21.
Authorities are looking for anyone 16 or older who received court-ordered mental health services or were admitted to a residential care facility because of an intellectual disability or mental illness as part of a delinquency hearing.
But a report issued by a Texas House Legislative Committee in January found federal authorities face challenges in conducting their background checks into those under 21.
It found, "The problem is Texas does not have a centralized source for statewide mental health adjudication information in juvenile cases."
That information is now kept by the 450 district clerks and county clerks across Texas.
The new bill filed would require those clerks to report the appropriate mental health records to Texas DPS.
Flo Rice was a substitute teacher who survived the deadly Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018.
She supports the new state bill. "There's a lot of things that need to be in place. We'll never have them all in place; any step in the right direction, to save lives, is important. Every little step."
Her husband Scot agrees. "It could speed up the process and maybe somebody won't fall through the cracks."
The legislation passed the Senate's State Affairs Committee last week.
The bill's author, State Senator Joan Huffman, R-Houston said, "These changes for juvenile mental health records ages 16 and older merely align with federal law and again are meant to make the background checks more thorough and hence make our schools and communities safer."
At the hearing last Thursday, Dr. Lauren Gamble of the Texas Medical Association said a cross section of doctors support the bill. "In Texas, we have doctors on both sides of the gun debate, but we are united in our desire to prevent firearm deaths and injuries."
Martha Constant, a co-owner of Target Master in Garland, backs the state's effort to make it easier for officials to conduct the extra background checks into 18- to 20-year-olds. "They may not need a firearm at this point, and they might need a little bit longer, a little bit more duration before they're ready to mentally take on that responsibility of owning a weapon."
She said she hopes there will be safeguards to protect the juveniles' information. "It should not be erroneously shared or leaked or left unguarded in any way."
Huffman's bill now heads to the full Senate.
Democratic State lawmakers have proposed multiple bills calling for further gun restrictions, but they face an uphill climb given the Republican majority in the legislature.
