Although it took just two weeks for Virginia to close the loophole that let a deranged gunman buy his guns, efforts to address a larger problem nationally have dragged on for four years.

However, Seung-Hui Cho's deadly rampage on the Virginia Tech campus could prompt Congress to take up a bill encouraging states to submit information on mental health adjudications to a federal database used to screen potential gun buyers.

Cho, who killed 32 people and then himself on the Tech campus two weeks ago, was not included in the database because a special justice did not commit him to a mental hospital after finding he was a danger to himself.

Gov. Tim Kaine issued an executive order Monday to fix the problem, directing that the names of people deemed dangerous and ordered by a court to receive treatment -- on either an inpatient or outpatient basis -- be included in the database.

But as Kaine has pointed out, discrepancy in the way other states report mental health commitments means the gaps that existed in Virginia's system remain across the country.

For the past four years, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., has tried to close those gaps with legislation that would require all states to report mental health adjudications for inclusion in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Only 22 states, including Virginia, currently report such information.

Congress has been slow to act on McCarthy's bill, which she introduced after a former mental patient in her Long Island district bought a semiautomatic rifle he used to kill a priest and a parishioner inside a church.

The first time the bill came up, in 2004, it passed the House on a voice vote but was never taken up by the Senate. Since then, it has languished in committee or died during floor sessions.

McCarthy's press secretary said things could be different this year.

"It's unfortunate that it takes a tragedy to discuss this," George Burke said. "But this is a major flaw in our system that needs to be fixed so more families don't have to go through what happened at Virginia Tech."

Two months ago, the bill's latest version was sent to the subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security. McCarthy is working with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to expedite action, Burke said.

One of the bill's co-sponsors is Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon.

"Given the heightened awareness of the problem, I'm very confident the measure will pass," Boucher said.

Boucher and other supporters of the bill stress that rather than impose new restrictions on gun ownership, all it does is provide incentives for states to release information needed to enforce a federal law that prohibits gun ownership for those deemed by a court to be mentally defective.

"This is not gun control," Boucher said. "This is simply making sure existing law is enforced."

In its current form, the bill would provide $350 million in grants to assist states in collecting records on mental health adjudications and forwarding the information to the federal database.

States that do not comply would risk losing up to 5 percent of their funding from the Department of Justice for a variety of other programs.

Those who don't compile the records list a variety of reasons, among them privacy concerns, a lack of resources and a 1997 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that Congress cannot force states to report such information.

Burke said that decision will not affect McCarthy's bill because it does not mandate compliance.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, said Monday that he voted for an earlier version of McCarthy's bill and would be inclined to support it again.

While "Virginia has actually been better than almost any other state" in reporting mental health adjudications, Cho's ability to buy two handguns showed flaws in the system, Goodlatte said.

Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Rocky Mount, declined through a spokesman to comment on McCarthy's bill until he learns more about the details.