The Flaw of The Brady Bill
             The federal Brady Law created an instant background check system meant to track the records of everyone prohibited from possessing firearms: convicted felons, people under a domestic violence restraining order, illegal aliens, drug addicts, dishonorably discharged military personnel, fugitives from justice and certain mentally ill people. The Brady Bill, imposed in February 1994, has been successful of what it was supposed to do. The Bill restricts mentally ill people from getting handguns, but medical records are kept secret, and there is no way of telling who is getting the guns. Is the Brady Bill working like it was planned?
             A priest and a parishioner were shot dead during church service in New York. Fr Lawrence Penzes, 50, had just finished his homily at Our Lady of Peace Church at Lynbrook on Long Island, when a gunman burst in and opened fire. Doctors say Fr Lawrence probably died at the altar. The other victim was Eileen Tosner, 73, a Lynbrook resident who attended Mass every morning. The suspect was Peter J Troy, 34. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. The police said he has a record of psychiatric illness. (Independent Catholic Bergin, March 2002)
             Scott Harlan Thorpe, 40, of Smartville was a client of the outpatient mental health clinic where he started shooting just before noon Wednesday, killing two people and wounding a third, said Nevada County Sheriff Keith Royal.
             Thorpe then drove to a restaurant in near Grass Valley, 50 miles northeast of Sacramento, and shot and killed the manager and wounded a cook because he thought the restaurant was poisoning him, Royal said. The accused killer was undergoing monthly mental health counseling for his agoraphobia, his fear of being in public places, said Gary Dalbey, a neighbor who lived across the road from Thorpe in rural Smartville. (The Californian NC times Associated Press 1/12/01)
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