Expanded Background Checks for Handgun Owners

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Posted: 6:33 PM Mar 2, 2010 Expanded Background Checks for Handgun Owners MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Mental health information that would bar people from possessing handguns under federal law would have to be shared by Wisconsin authorities under a bill that has passed the state Senate. Reporter: Associated Press

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Mental health information that would bar people from possessing handguns under federal law would have to be shared by Wisconsin authorities under a bill that has passed the state Senate.

Federal law prohibits anyone committed to a mental institution or ruled mentally defective by a court from possessing a firearm. But Wisconsin currently does not provide that information to the federal background check database.

The bill that passed the state Senate unanimously on Tuesday would require the Wisconsin Department of Justice to send that information to the federal database.

Many states changed their laws in a similar way after the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings left 32 people dead.

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