9 Investigates: Gun permit process in Mecklenburg County has loophole in checking mental health records

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — After the deadly shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary, more people than ever began applying for gun permits in Mecklenburg County, concerned about tighter gun restrictions.

At the same time, North Carolina lawmakers began drafting legislation both for and against gun control.

Eyewitness News went behind the scenes at the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office for gun permits.

"They've at least doubled," supervisor Tamara Rhode said of the permit applications. "We are booking appointments now to the second or third week of April."

Nearly 2,000 permit applications are waiting to be processed right now.

Rhode showed Eyewitness News how she checks for felony convictions, domestic violence convictions, outstanding warrants and pending court dates. Any of those mean a "no" from Rhode.

She also uses the National Instant Criminal Background Check System called "NICS." It checks for arrests outside our area and uses courts records to see if someone has been ruled dangerously mentally ill or involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility. Both disqualify someone from getting a permit.

But there is a loophole.

In North Carolina, courts are required by law to provide mental health records to NICS.

But there's no system in place to check and not all other states require their courts to report.

So the sheriff's office even goes a step further. It checks a transport log for whether someone was driven to a psychiatric facility by a Mecklenburg County deputy.

But if a family member or someone else took that person, there is no way to know.

"Do you think that's a problem that needs to be addressed now?" Eyewitness News asked Mecklenburg County Sheriff Chipp Bailey.

"I think that should be a priority," Sheriff Bailey said.

He said he believes the state should require comprehensive mental health background checks for gun permits.

He'd also like a national database of mental health records.

"You do the best you can based on the law and the information," Sheriff Bailey said. "We don't have the access to mental health records and I think we should."

"We need to look at some common sense changes," Rep. Beverly Earle (D) said.

Earle is drafting legislation to limit magazine rounds, ban assault weapons and strengthen background checks.

"I think you should have a really in-depth check," she said. "Not just to... whether or not you've been picked up."

Earle wants lawmakers to review the budget and find a way to restore funding for mental health services.

In fiscal year 2012-13, the state cut about $20 million from the division that oversees mental health and other services.

It cut more than twice that in fiscal year 2011-12, slashing about $45 million from the budget.

But would Republicans be on board for more spending on mental health services?

Eyewitness News asked Sen. Tommy Tucker.

"Certainly we should be able to expand our services if we get a hand on what our costs are," he said.

But Tucker is against limits on guns. He said funding armed law enforcement in school is the only way to truly prevent another tragedy like Newtown.

"It's very, very hard to be able to stop them unless someone's in that facility with a gun to stop them," he said.

Deby Dihoff, executive director of the North Carolina chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said the solution includes not guns, but training for teachers and school resource officers on how to spot signs of mental illness in students and get them help.

Dihoff questions whether increased access to mental health records would prevent violence or lead to more.

"It might be a barrier to anybody ever getting treatment," she said, "if they're concerned about more checks."

According to the N.C. National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 2,200 teachers have completed the organization's courses since 2011.

Dihoff said they are also working with the state to launch a new course for school resource officers this year.

WSOC