Texas Wisdom

The Houston Chronicle reports on the high rate of compliance Texas has provided in keeping the FBI database up to date.

Two years after Texas passed a law to comply with a new federal mandate, the Lone Star State is among those leading the nation in the number of mental health reports submitted to an FBI database that clears individuals to buy firearms.

Texas' cooperation contrasts with 25 states and the District of Columbia that have filed fewer than 100 mental health records, according to FBI statistics obtained and released by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Thirteen of those states have filed fewer than 10 reports and six states have not filed any reports, its data indicates.

"Texans understand that background checks are not gun control," said Mark Glaze, director of the organization that represents chief executives from more than 600 cities. "Background checks are a common sense, crime-fighting measure that keeps guns away from the most dangerous people in our society while doing nothing to stop the rest of us from exercising our rights."

During the eight-month period that ended April 30, Texas provided 68,769 mental health reports to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Washington state submitted the second-highest total number of reports during that same period, with 42,556.

With its 60,680 reports already in the FBI database, Texas had 129,449 total, ranking sixth behind Virginia, Washington, Michigan, New York and California.

Now, in all fairness to the other states, Texas could just have a higher proportion of mental cases among its population and therefore the numbers would have to be higher. I'm only joking.

I think it's a great example of the kind of cooperation we need much more of. I loved the rationale about background checks. Background checks are NOT gun control.

"Background checks are a common sense, crime-fighting measure that keeps guns away from the most dangerous people in our society while doing nothing to stop the rest of us from exercising our rights."

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