Sen. John Cornyn said Wednesday that he’s exploring ways to move his mental health bill, which includes language to change the process for restricting gun ownership for the mentally ill, but was met with fierce criticism from Democrats at a hearing on Wednesday.
Cornyn’s bill would amend the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the system used by gun sellers to determine whether someone is legally allowed to purchase a firearm.
Cornyn’s bill makes a number of changes to the system, including one that would require a court to decide whether a person is mentally ill and thus not allowed to own a gun. Under current law, that decision can be made by medical professionals.
The NRA supports that change as one that would grant “due process protections” to people added to the background check system because of a mental illness.
But Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit gun control organization founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, says the legislation undermines the background check system and would enable people with severe mental illness to buy guns. They say it would remove people’s names from the background check system right away, opening the door to letting these people buy guns.
Cornyn says that’s not accurate, and that people would only have their names removed from the system after they are no longer adjudicated as a danger to themselves or others. Still, Democrats picked up on Everytown’s argument and argued Cornyn’s bill would make it easier for the mentally ill to buy a gun.
“[S]ome of the provisions in Sen. Cornyn’s bill would make it easier, not harder, for mentally ill individuals to access firearms,” said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s No. 3 Democrat, on Wednesday. “That is the opposite direction from which we should be moving.”
“I’d like to make clear while there’s broad bipartisan consensus for provisions that include how we treat mental illness, that consensus does not exist for provisions that make it easier for mentally ill individuals to get guns,” Schumer added.
Cornyn shot back: “Nothing in my legislation makes it easier for mentally ill people to get access to firearms. Nothing.”
While Democrats clearly oppose Cornyn’s bill, Cornyn said he has talked to Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is expected to pass a bill boosting funding for mental health programs. There may be room for combining his bill and the bill of Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Cornyn said.
“I hope what we can ultimately do, and I’ve talked to Sen. Alexander about this, is putting together these various pieces into a piece of consensus legislation that we might be able to pass with good results,” he said.
Cornyn’s bill would also authorize funds for a variety of services, including funding for mental health identification, treatment centers, crisis response and intervention, re-entry and transition assistance, and mental health courts. It collects more data on the intersection between violence and mental illness, as well as funding active-shooter trainings for law enforcement in gun violence situations.
“The goal of this legislation is to help those suffering from mental illness find treatment, support and a path to recovery,” Cornyn wrote in a recent Washington Examiner op-ed.
