Sessions points to background check requirements

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is telling state and local officials to make sure they are providing crucial mental health and criminal history information to federal background check systems.

Sessions on Monday directed the FBI to identify localities that are not fully reporting information about arrests and mental health records to federal authorities. Such information could prevent someone from purchasing a gun if discovered during a background check.

Sessions told the FBI that people who can’t legally own guns shouldn’t be able to pass background checks “simply because information was not available to you.”

Sessions in November ordered a review of the FBI’s background check system after the Air Force failed to report the criminal history of the gunman who slaughtered more than two dozen people at a Texas church.