SLED: 65 gun permits revoked due to reporting law

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The chief of South Carolina’s law enforcement agency says a law meant to prevent the mentally ill from buying guns has already led to 12 people being denied a concealed weapons permit.

Chief Mark Keel said Friday that the State Law Enforcement Division also has revoked 65 permits because of the law approved last year.

Under the law, courts across South Carolina are sending SLED 10 years’ worth of records on residents who have been declared mentally ill.

Keel says the agency’s new mental health reporting unit has entered more than 22,000 names in a federal database so far.

The chief says his agency has no way of knowing how many people have been unable to buy a gun because the names now show up in gun stores’ background checks.