Burr: Ease gun limits for vets

News & Observer Since a severely mentally ill student went on a shooting spree at Virginia Tech last year, killing 32 people before turning a gun on himself, Congress and several states have worked to tighten rules on who can legally purchase a firearm. But a push by U.S. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina would prevent the federal veterans agency from adding the names of veterans declared "mentally defective" to a background check database unless the agency goes through the judicial system. His bill would allow the agency to submit only the names of those declared dangerous by a judge, magistrate or other judicial authority. The problem, Burr says, is that some veterans were added to the list not because they were a danger to themselves or others but because the Department of Veterans Affairs assigned them guardians to... [read full story]