A report released in 2011 by the bipartisan Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition—called “Fatal Gaps: How Missing Records in the Federal Background Check System Put Guns in the Hands of Killers”—notes that states and federal agencies are basically ignoring the federal law requiring that records about dangerous people, including those with serious mental illnesses, be reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Because of lax reporting, guns are winding up in the hands of people suffering from severe mental disorders, and, as a consequence, innocent people are dying. From 1984 through today 276 lives have been taken, and 335 Americans have been seriously injured by spree killers. Since Seung-Hui Cho went on a murderous rampage and opened fire on the campus of Virginia Tech five years ago, spree killings have cut short 135 lives and injured 167 innocent victims. The pace of spree killings is increasing and so to is the extent of the mayhem.
MORE: Spree Killings Growing More Frequent and More Deadly.