U.S. Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, made his first public address last week at the 2007 national winter meeting of state attorneys general. Mukasey recently replaced Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who resigned in September.

Thirty-three attorneys general, including Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, attended the meeting at The Canyons Resort in Park City last Thursday. They discussed a number of issues, including the current mortgage foreclosure crisis, domestic violence and teen dating violence, e-health care, antitrust issues and Medicaid fraud

Mukasey focused his remarks on violence in response to the Virginia Tech shooting incident that occurred last April. According to Mukasey, the number of people registered as being prohibited from buying guns because of mental health problems has doubled since the Virginia Tech incident.

On April 16, 2007 Seung-Hui Cho entered Virginia Tech campus, armed with two semi-automatic handguns, and killed 33 people, including himself.

Cho, a South Korean who had moved to the United States at age 8, had been diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder beginning in middle school. He received professional help until his junior year in high school. In 2005, Cho had been declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice and ordered to seek outpatient treatment. Despite this medical history, Cho was legally able to purchase firearms.

This incident received international media coverage and drew criticism of U.S. laws from commentators around the world. In an effort to repair these loopholes within the U.S. legal system, Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine created a state panel to evaluate and analyze the incident in order to prevent probable future cases.

"What we learn from this panel could result in fresh ideas that will help bolster the safety of our young people on campuses in communities across the country," Kaine said in a news release.

The panel found Cho was not disqualified from making the purchase because of different understandings about what kind of mental health care orders should be reported to the federal firearms background check system. Since then, efforts have been made to help clarify these guidelines. States across the U.S. have worked to improve this system.

According to Mukasey, a review in June showed only 23 states were providing information to NICS, a national system that checks available records on persons who may be disqualified from receiving firearms. As of Nov. 1, 32 states had submitted records and the number continues to grow.

Mukasey acknowledged the efforts being made by the state of Utah and by local law enforcements.

"I want to thank you personally for the great strides that have been made since [Virginia Tech] and ask for your continued help," Mukasey said.

Copyright Brigham Young University 3 Dec 2007