“States have doubled the number of mental health records submitted to the FBI’s background-check system since the Virginia Tech shooting last April, in a stepped up effort to keep mentally disturbed individuals from purchasing firearms. At the time of the Virginia Tech shootings, in which a student with a history of mental health problems shot and killed 32 students and faculty members before turning a gun on himself, 22 states submitted mental-health information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, for a total of 174,863 mental health records. The Justice Department announced Thursday that there are now 32 states submitting information, with 393,957 records in the NICS’ Mental Defective File.” (11/29/07)