Mark Kelly Applauds New Mexico’s Senate Judiciary Committee for Advancing Bipartisan Legislation to Strengthen the Background Check System for Gun Sales
February 10, 2016 – Retired Navy combat veteran and NASA astronaut Capt. Mark Kelly, the Co-Founder of the gun violence prevention organization Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS), applauded the New Mexico Senate Judiciary Committee’s bipartisan vote today to advance Senate Bill 331, which closes loopholes in New Mexico law by requiring the state’s courts to report relevant mental health records to the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
Just yesterday, the bipartisan bill had been passed by the Senate Public Affairs Committee.
New Mexico currently has no law requiring the state to report mental health information to NICS, the federal background check system. In 2013, it had the 9th highest number of gun deaths per capita among the states.
“Keeping guns out of the wrong hands shouldn’t be a partisan issue. So it’s encouraging to see the momentum for this commonsense bill continue and to see Republicans and Democrats came together yet again to make New Mexico’s families safer by strengthening our background check system. We thank Senator Daniel Ivey Soto, Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, and Committee Chair Senator Richard Martinez for their unwavering support in moving this responsible, life-saving bill forward. Our background check system is only as strong as the records it contains, and this commonsense legislation will help ensure that the records of dangerous people are in the system and help prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands,” said Captain Kelly, a Navy combat veteran and former NASA astronaut. “We look forward to seeing this bill passed by the full Senate along bipartisan lines.”
OVERVIEW OF THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM & REPORTING OF MENTAL HEALTH RECORDS
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was established in 1993 by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. Since taking effect, over 196 million background checks have been conducted and NICS has blocked more than 2.4 million gun purchases. States provide the majority of records information to NICS, which contains criminal history, mental health history and other relevant records. While states have made significant gains in submitting mental health records to NICS, tripling these submissions from 2011 to 2014, millions of records remain incomplete or simply do not make their way into NICS.