Guns and the Left coast

Post below lifted from Blue Crab. See the original for links

Inquiring minds want to know. The Washington Post has a report that shows that FBI's "Mental Defective File" of people barred from purchasing guns has more than doubled - due to the enrollment of California residents.

Since the Virginia Tech shootings last spring, the FBI has more than doubled the number of people nationwide who are prohibited from buying guns because of mental health problems, the Justice Department said yesterday. Justice officials said the FBI's "Mental Defective File" has ballooned from 175,000 names in June to nearly 400,000, primarily because of additions from California. The names are listed in a subset of a database that gun dealers are supposed to check before completing sales...

..The vast majority of the individuals who were added to the FBI's list were identified by California, which provided more than 200,000 names in October, the Justice Department said. Ohio provided more than 7,000 new names, and the number of states reporting mental health data to the FBI this year grew from 23 to 32, officials said.

Let's see: Ohio reported 7,000, California 200,000. The original list was 175,000. I think maybe this proves something else that was out today. California is arguably one of the most liberal states in the US. Gallup reported on mental health and party affiliation:

Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent, according to data from the last four November Gallup Health and Healthcare polls. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans report having excellent mental health, compared to 43% of independents and 38% of Democrats.

VA: Kaine wants to close victim disarmament "loophole": "Gov. Timothy M. Kaine called Tuesday for new restrictions on firearm sales at gun shows but stopped short of declaring passage of the legislation as a high priority for the 2008 General Assembly session. Under current law, background checks on buyers are not required by unlicensed dealers who privately sell and trade firearms at the shows. Kaine endorsed closing the loophole, saying it provides an opening for felons and mentally ill people to buy weapons they are otherwise forbidden to purchase."


Texas: Neighbors Chase, Draw Gun on Intruders: "A drunken man was arrested Friday night after going on a crime spree while riding his bike near Oso Bay. Police said the man first held up a group of kids at a Flour Bluff apartment complex with a knife. Then, one of the kid's relatives followed the man to a Paul Jones neighborhood and tried to chase him out of two homes. The romp ended with a gunshot. Before then, Carol Wright was hanging Christmas lights outside when two men suddenly ran around the side of her house. Wright said a 24-year-old man "pushed me against the wall, went in the house, closed and dead-bolted the door. I heard the lock." Police said the man who pushed his way into Wright's home was running from another man after an attempted stabbing at the Wharf Apartments. Officers said the man was drunk when he rode his bike up to a group of kids there. "They were out playing in the park," said Capt. John Houston of the Corpus Christi Police Department. "He then pulled out what they describe as looking like a machete or large knife. The guy threatened him. He swung at one of the kids, allegedly." The homeowner eventually got the other man out of his home. But by that time, the kids' uncle was pounding on his front door. The homeowner fired a shotgun into the air to get them both off of his property. Police later arrested the drunken bicycle rider."