FARGO -- Firearms restrictions due to mental health concerns have been imposed in 745 North Dakota cases in the first year the background system for gun purchases allowed that tracking.
The ability to link mental health records in North Dakota to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System began last June 24 with support from a federal grant.
Before the capability was added, North Dakota was one of a dozen states singled out last year by an advocacy group, Everytown for Gun Safety, as lacking what it said is an important safeguard to prevent gun violence.
The 745 cases where firearms restrictions were imposed during the first year included involuntary commitments to a psychiatric hospital, said Sally Holewa, North Dakota's state court administrator.
The next leading category was firearms restrictions for a person who has been deemed incapacitated and for whom a guardian has been appointed, imposed in 63 cases. Others involved guardianships or conservatorships. Altogether, 845 firearms restrictions were imposed by judges, according to state figures.
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"It took a long time to get it right," Holewa said of the effort to link court records involving mental health to the background check system.
"It gets to be a lot of translating" to mesh the two computer systems, she said.
Although Holewa's office provides the court records that now mesh with the background check system, she does not have an opinion of their usefulness in helping to curb gun violence.
"I don't make anything of it," she said. "I'm pretty neutral."
Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist has said Minnesota's background check system, which was in place before North Dakota's, works well and has been "very helpful."
Lt. Tom Iverson of the North Dakota Highway Patrol said his agency doesn't have a lot to do with background checks for gun purchases.
"Our involvement with this is limited, although it is difficult to gauge the level" of protection provided by the background checks' ability to tap mental health records.
By its nature, it's virtually impossible to know what cases of violence were prevented because a background check flagged mental health concerns.
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"We would never know," Iverson said.
