Last April I posted on a federal gun law that had been violated when Virginia Tech mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho obtained the guns that he used to kill his victims. Well it looks like the Northern Illinois University (NIU) shooter obtained his murder weapons after violating the same law.

What law? As Newsweek revealed last year, the 1968 federal gun law that blocks convicted criminals from buying firearms (passed after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy) also prohibits gun purchases by those who have a history of mental illness. Cho had been committed to a mental institution and lied on his gun application.

And The Associated Press reports that Steven Kazmierczak, the NIU killer, also had mental health problems. It reports that a former employee at the Thresholds-Mary Hill House, a Chicago psychiatric treatment center, said Kazmierczak had been placed there for more than a year after high school by his parents. He used to cut himself and had resisted taking his medications.

Continue reading NIU and Virginia Tech mass murderers both obtained their guns illegally

NIU and Virginia Tech mass murderers both obtained their guns illegally originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Virginia Tech mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho was mentally deranged. But he had no problem buying his two weapons of mass destruction from a Roanoke, VA gun dealer and the combination of a Green Bay, WI web site and Blacksburg, VA pawnbroker. This got me thinking that there ought to be a law against selling guns to people in his mental condition.

It turns out there is. In this case, the law was simply not enforced. That's Newsweek's revelation. It found that the same 1968 federal gun law that blocks convicted criminals from buying firearms (passed after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy) also prohibits gun purchases by those who have a history of mental illness.

On Cho's gun application -- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Form 4473 -- he was asked: "Have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective or ... committed to a mental institution?" Cho answered "no."

Continue reading Virginia Tech mass murderer buys guns illegally. Why wasn't law enforced?

Virginia Tech mass murderer buys guns illegally. Why wasn't law enforced? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Apr 2007 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.