Friday, March 03, 2006

NICS Upgrade and Automation Bill

This is from GovTrack. I get automatic updates on a various legislation and topics that come up in bills before our politicians in Washinton. Nice thing is that it's free.

The Bill is H.R. 1415 for providing funding and automation of the NICS system to allow the states to report all qualifying information on felonies and related misdemeanors as well as mental health records.

I'm still wondering how they are going to create a definition for what is a disqualifying mental illness, and then how they are going to enforce such reporting from private mental health facilities. I don't know of any concensus as to what definitions exist that clearly define this.

I also have a great dislike for the domestic violence restraining orders portion of this. I fully understand that there is an issue with this, but, there is no trial or conviction related to getting a restraining order. There also have been documented cases of restraining orders being used as a retaliatory device in messy divorces. Once you have one such order against you, you are done. Without a fair hearing or trial, this elimination of your rights is a farce.

Overall, the bill looks reasonable. It was supported by the NRA at some point, though I don't know where they stand at this moment on the issue.

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