CHICAGO (AP) -- Illinois is getting a federal grant to improve its participation in a national system of background checks for would-be gun owners.
The $1.2 million grant will help Illinois automate how it submits mental health records to a national background check system.
The U.S. Justice Department awarded grants to Illinois and seven other states.
Federal law bars gun ownership for people who've been judged dangerously mentally ill by a court and those who've been committed to a mental institution.
Background checks allow the FBI to deny gun sales to people with disqualifying mental health histories.
Paul Helmke of the nonpartisan Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says states often fail to submit records of dangerously mentally ill persons to the national system.
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKHQA