WASHINGTON — Backed by the National Rifle Association, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican leader introduced legislation Wednesday that would reward states for sending more information about residents with serious mental problems to the federal background check system for firearms purchasers.
The bill by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, would also bolster programs for treating mentally ill people and handling confrontations with them. It comes after last month’s killings in a Louisiana movie theater by a gunman with mental problems put a fresh spotlight on holes in the background check system and programs for people with psychological difficulties.
Cornyn’s legislation is far more limited than a Senate measure expanding background check requirements that Republicans and the NRA helped defeat two years ago. It’s also narrower than a bill a top Senate Democrat announced this week.
Still, it represents a rare effort by a leading Republican to propose modest steps that could curb some firearms purchases. Cornyn has an A-plus rating for his gun-rights voting record from the NRA, which long has fought gun restrictions yet has backed some bills limiting the ability of mentally troubled people to buy firearms.
Cornyn said that while past bills have been designed to “drive a political wedge” on the issue, his was aimed at helping people with mental health issues to “hopefully pre-empt them from committing an act of violence.”
Jennifer Baker, spokeswoman for NRA legislative affairs, said the bill took “meaningful steps toward fixing the system and making our communities safer.”
Gun control advocates criticized the measure for doing little to curb firearms purchases. Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said it “does nothing to prevent dangerous people from purchasing guns” online or at gun shows.
By law, federally licensed gun dealers must conduct background checks on firearms purchasers.
Among those barred from buying guns are people legally determined to be “mentally defective” and those who have been committed to mental institutions. But states are not required to send those records to the background check system, which is run by the FBI, and its database is spotty.