Senate passes gun bill in response to rampage

Robert Hawkins, the 19-year-old gunman who on December 5, 2007 killed eight people and took his own life at the Von Maur Department Store at Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, is captured in this surveillance footage released to Reuters December 7, 2007. Congress, prodded by the deadliest shooting rampage in modern American history, passed legislation on Wednesday designed to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. (Omaha Police Department/Handout/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress, prodded by thedeadliest shooting rampage in modern American history, passedlegislation on Wednesday to keep guns out of the hands of thementally ill.
Without objection, the Senate and House of Representativesapproved the measure, which would bolster background checks forgun buyers, and sent it to President George W. Bush to sign.
The measure would be the first major new U.S. gun-controllaw since 1994. It was drafted after a gunman with a history ofmental illness killed himself and 32 others in April atVirginia Tech university.
The product of months of talks, the bill was finally agreedto as lawmakers prepared to wrap up their work for the year andhead home for the holidays.
"Together, we have crafted a bill that will prevent gunviolence, but maintain the Second Amendment rights oflaw-abiding citizens" to bear arms, said Democratic Rep.Carolyn McCarthy of New York, a chief sponsor of the bill.
McCarthy was elected to Congress in 1996, three years afterher husband was killed and son injured when a gunman openedfire on a commuter train.
The 4 million-member National Rifle Association, a powerfulU.S. pro-gun lobbying group that has helped stop numerousgun-control bills, backed this one.
"Everybody on both the sides of the issue of firearms'ownership joined together," said Democratic Rep. John Dingellof Michigan, a former NRA board member and another chiefsponsor of the bill.
"Both sides recognize this as a very sensible and properway to see to it that the law is enforced and people areprotected," Dingell told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Americans are among the world's most heavily armed people,and the country has one of the world's highest murder rates.
There are an estimated 250 million privately owned guns inthe United States, which has a population of about 300 million.About 30,000 people a year die from gun wounds.
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The 1968 Gun Control Act prohibits anyone found by a courtto be "a mental defective" from possessing a gun. It also barsfelons, fugitives, drug addicts and wife beaters.
But because of state privacy laws and fiscal restraints,most states have failed to fully report such records to theNational Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Congress has long been reluctant to tackle the politicallyexplosive issue of gun control. But it did so after it wasdisclosed that the Virginia Tech gunman had once been deemed bya judge to be dangerous and the information never reached abackground check system for gun buyers.
The legislation would provide financial incentives forstates to provide mental health and criminal records to adatabase used for federal background checks on gun buyers.
The House initially passed such a bill in June. But theSenate refused to go along with it until changes were made. Onewould require the government to pay legal fees if a person whoclaims to have been wrongly listed in the background systemwins an appeal.
The bill would also allow those found to no longer bementally ill and a threat to be removed from the list.Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, aVermont Democrat, said: "Nothing can bring back the livestragically lost at Virginia Tech, and no legislation can be apanacea, but the bill we pass today will begin to repair andrestore our faith in the NICS system and may help preventsimilar tragedies in the future."(Editing by Patricia Zengerle)