NASHVILLE — Dangerous holes exist in a Tennessee process that is supposed to keep both guns and state handgun-carry permits out of the hands of people declared mentally ill, according to a new state comptroller audit.
The performance audit, conducted by Comptroller Justin Wilson’s Division of State Audit, found that Tennessee court system management “had not fully complied with a 2013 state law regarding mental health and firearms,” prompted by concerns over mass shootings nationwide.
The law mandates that county court clerks file reports within three business days on people committed to a mental institution or adjudicated as a “mental defective” on the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is used by gun dealers.
Despite the law’s mandate, a number of clerks aren’t filing directly with the feds, instead forwarding information to the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to file for them, the report found. And State Audit’s Risk-Based Performance Section staff found problems there, too.
The audit’s purpose was to see whether processes required by the new law were being followed. Auditors did not look to see whether anyone deemed mentally ill actually had purchased a firearm from a gun dealer or was issued or possessed a state handgun-carry permit.