SLED: 136 mentally ill in SC denied gun purchases

CHARLESTON, S.C. — (AP) State agents say 136 people have been stopped from buying guns in South Carolina because a background check showed they had been ruled mentally incompetent by a court.

The State Law Enforcement Division told The Post and Courier of Charleston that its agents have also revoked 132 concealed weapons permits from people ruled mentally incompetent.

A state law passed last year requires probate courts to report all cases where a person was judged mentally incompetent or involuntarily committed to a mental health facility. That information goes into a federal database, and those people aren't allowed to own a gun.

The law was prompted by the arrest of 28-year-old who with a documented history of mental illness taken into custody with a gun outside a Charleston school in February 2013.

WSOC