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US House OKs stricter gun law
14/06/2007 07:25 - (SA)
Washington - The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved new
legislation drafted after the mid-April shooting rampage at
Virginia Tech University that tightens background checks for
potential gun owners.
The House bill, approved by a voice-vote, grants financial
incentives to states to keep up to date a data base containing
information on people who are banned from owning guns, especially
criminals and the mentally ill.
The bill is supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA),
the politically powerful US gun lobby.
To become law the measure must also be approved by the Senate,
then be signed by the president.
If approved, it would become the
first new gun control legislation since 1994.
The measure was drafted after the April 16 rampage in which
gunman Cho Seung-Hui shot and killed 32 students and staff on the
Virginia Tech campus.
The South Korea-born, US-raised Cho, a 23-year-old English
major, was able to buy two handguns even after police and
professors recognised that he was mentally disturbed.
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