Senate Panel Approves Bill with School Safety, Gun Control Provisions

On August 2, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved, by voice vote, the School Safety and Law Enforcement Act (as-yet-unnumbered).

Sponsored by Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the measure would create a National Center for Campus Public Safety and authorize federal funds to assist local school districts in improving school security. The bill also incorporates provisions of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Amendments Act (H.R. 2640), passed by the House on June 13, that would require federal and state agencies to report into the NICS mental health and misdemeanor domestic violence records that disqualify an individual from purchasing a gun (see The Source, 6/15/07). The bill also would reward states that report such information into the NICS and penalize states that fail to do so. The measure would authorize $400 million each year for FY2009 through 2013 to help states modernize their reporting systems.

During consideration of the bill, the committee adopted the following amendments:

an amendment by Sen. Leahy that would allow a department or agency to provide the NICS with criminal records indicating that an individual is mentally unstable, without objection;
an amendment by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) that would reduce the federal share of grant programs for school security from 80 percent to 50 percent, and increase the state share from 20 percent to 50 percent, 10-9; and
an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would share records from NICS with Immigration and Customs Enforcement if the individual is prohibited from carrying a gun because he or she is an illegal immigrant, without objection.The committee rejected an amendment by Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) that would reduce funding for NICS to $250 million annually for FY2009 through 2013, 9-10.