An Army reservist, who reportedly showed symptoms of mental health issues in recent months, allegedly shot and killed 18 people Wednesday in Lewiston, Maine.
Earlier today, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of a Republican amendment that would limit the Department of Veterans Affairs’ ability to report information about certain veterans, including those with certain mental health conditions, to a base of FBI data used for firearms background checks.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., was one of five non-Republican senators to vote in favor of the measure.
According to sponsor of the bill, the VA is required to report individuals to the FBI’s criminal background check system whenever a fiduciary is appointed to help the individual manage their VA benefits.
The Senate-approved amendment would prohibit the VA from transmitting that information to the database unless a judge decides the person poses a danger to themselves or others.
Chronology:Deadly mass shooting in Maine as police search for suspect Robert Card
A spokesperson for Sinema defended her vote, emphasizing that the amendment would not change federal background check requirements and is intended to limit the VA’s role in determining a person’s mental fitness to possess gun.
“Kyrsten voted to ensure that a judge – not a VA bureaucrat – was responsible for determining whether a veteran posed a danger to himself or others, just as judges make that decision for civilians,” she said. writes the spokesperson.
Research suggests that most mass murders are not committed by seriously mentally ill people, and that people with mental illness are more likely victims of violent crimes rather than their perpetrators.
Mass shooting suspect Robert Card was committed to a psychiatric facility for two weeks over the summer because he was “hearing voices” and threatening to shoot up a military base in Saco, Wash. Maine. several media reported.
It is not immediately clear whether the amendment would have applied directly to Card. Jaclyn Schildkraut, a gun policy expert at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, noted that only specific criteria in federal law limit individuals’ rights to own a firearm, such as whether a person is considered, as the law says, as a “mentally defective” or being committed to a psychiatric institution, rather than going there voluntarily.
A VA spokesperson said he couldn’t say for sure whether Card fell into those categories and said Card used VA education benefits in 2004, but he neither used nor applied for of VA benefits since.
“In fact, it is too early to determine whether this bill would be relevant to the Maine shooting, as there remain many unknowns,” wrote Schildkraut, the gun policy expert, in an email to the Arizona Republic.
Asked Friday about Sinema’s vote, Rep. Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, who is running for his current Senate seat, said he would have voted against the measure.
“Our criminal history system is very important. It’s one of the few things that keeps people who shouldn’t own guns from buying guns. And anything that diminishes that, I think, is not going to keep Americans safe,” Gallego said Friday during a news conference on another topic.
