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Keeping Guns From Mentally Ill

McCarthy-Schumer bill gets NRA’s endorsement

By Elaine S. Povich

WASHINGTON BUREAU

June 22, 2003

Washington – Amid the trial of Peter Troy, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic charged with killing a priest and a parishioner at Our Lady of Peace Roman Catholic Church in Lynbrook, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy and Sen. Charles Schumer are making another try at strengthening the law to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.

Their legislation, dubbed the “Our Lady of Peace Act,” after the church, passed the House last year, but the legislative session ended before it could be considered in the Senate. It is to be re-introduced in both Houses Tuesday.

This is the first bill in memory supported by McCarthy (D-Mineola) and Schumer (D-N.Y.), both leading gun-law advocates, that also has the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, the nation’s leading organization opposing restrictions on guns. Even gun-rights advocates on Capitol Hill, like Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) are on board, which bodes well for the legislation this year.

McCarthy says it’s “kinda eerie” to be pressing the legislation in the middle of the Troy trial, but poignant as well. Reading about the legal proceedings, especially how the families of the victims are observing the trial, “pulls you right back into that courtroom,” McCarthy said, recalling when she witnessed the trial of Colin Ferguson, the mentally ill man accused of killing her husband in the Long Island Rail Road shooting in December 1993. It was that issue that propelled her to Congress, and she has remained a leading advocate for gun control legislation ever since.

“This [bill] is the best thing I can do for those families,” she said.

Under the bill, states would be required to automate their records on mentally ill people and to forward that information to the FBI so it can be included in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. That system is designed to weed out potential gun purchasers who are legally not allowed to have a weapon: those with criminal records, those with restraining orders against them for domestic violence and the mentally ill.

McCarthy says many states have done a poor job of maintaining records. As an incentive, the bill would waive the 10 percent state matching requirement for federal grants to upgrade record-keeping for any state that shares at least 90 percent of its records with the FBI. Any state that didn’t comply after five years could face denial of some federal funds.

NRA spokesman Ted Novin said automating records of the mentally ill is “a step in the right direction. We were pleased that under John Dingell’s leadership members of Congress like Carolyn McCarthy finally realized that the NRA was right all along and we need to assure that NICS works properly,” he said.

The group and McCarthy have been at extreme odds in the past about gun control legislation, most recently over the assault weapons ban. The NRA was the driving force behind the House’s vote to repeal it, while McCarthy wanted to strengthen it. [CORRECTION: A story in Sunday’s editions incorrectly stated the National Rifle Association’s position on a proposed bill that would deny weapons to those with a history of mental illness. The group endorsed a similar bill last year. The proposed bill is to be introduced to both Houses today. The group does not endorse bills until they have been formally introduced. Pg. A02 ALL 6/24/03]

About the only organized opposition to the bill has come from advocates for the mentally ill, who argue that the proposed law is too broad and who worry about the privacy of those who are denied weapons based on having a documented record of mental illness. “No one objects to keeping guns out of the hands of violent criminals,” said Ron Honberg, legislative director for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. “But we would have been much more comfortable if the [proposed] law had been more precise.”

McCarthy said that under the computerized system, there would be no reason given for denying purchase of a gun. “The privacy issue is kept in place. I happen to think that’s important,” she said.

Troy, 36, is on trial in State Supreme Court in Mineola, charged with the March 2002 murders of the Rev. Lawrence Penzes, 50, and Eileen Tosner, 73, a lifelong parishioner of the Lynbrook church. Troy, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder, is expected to testify this week. Despite a history of mental illness, he has refused to allow his attorney to mount an insanity defense.

Wearing a tan trenchcoat and carrying a rifle, Troy paced nervously inside the church vestibule before opening fire during morning Mass, witnesses recounted last week. He then fled to a room he was renting nearby and remained in a standoff with police for several hours before his apprehension.

“There’s nobody, no matter what you believe on gun control, who believes that Troy should have been able to go into a gun shop and get a gun,” Schumer said. “Had it [the bill] been done, Father Penzes and Mrs. Tosner would be with us still.”

Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

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