The names of hundreds of thousands of current and former New Jersey residents who have been involuntarily committed to psychiatric facilities have been added to an FBI database used to bar firearms purchases by people with criminal records or a history of mental illness.
New Jersey court officials said that they began forwarding digital records to the FBI earlier this year and that they expect to complete the program by the end of May.
The Civil Commitment Automated Tracking system has turned over identities of 280,000 people subject to involuntary civil commitment dating to 1975 in 16 of the state's 21 counties. The five remaining counties - Atlantic, Essex, Hudson, Monmouth and Bergen - likely will be added by the end of May.
Officials of the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts say they expect the total number of people whose names have been sent to the FBI will reach about 420,000.
"The program has already demonstrated its usefulness in promoting public safety," said Glenn A. Grant, a New Jersey appellate judge who is serving as acting director of the New Jersey court system. "More than 85 gun purchases were denied based on the records the court provided to the New Jersey State Police for referral to the federal registry.
Only the most extreme extremists could possibly have a problem with this. Let's hear it boys.
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Adjudicated mentally ill persons became prohibited from possessing firearms in 1968. And NICS has been running since 1968 and they are just now getting the names turned in now?
ReplyDeleteI believe a few days ago you posted a story showing which states were doing well and not so well. And Texas beat out many "blue" states such as Jersey.
I've said before that there needs to be a way for convicts and people adjudicated mentally ill to regain their rights once they've returned to good health or behavior. But if New Jersey is just getting around to doing what the law asks--well, tsk, tsk. We have to do everything for your side?
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