Well, his background is not revealed by the "checks", because I think if there is no criminal record, (and a psychiatric hospitalization wouldn't count), he'd pass whatever they check in the State of Virginia when he bought his guns. The only thing he had on his record was a traffic violation. And...there was a waiting period. He had to wait one month after the purchase of the 1st weapon to buy the 2nd.

Is there any state where a history of mental illness precludes purchase of a firearm? Just asking.

On another note, finally saw one guy who agreed with me regarding Cho's likely psychiatric disorder:

Another expert who has worked with mentally disturbed young criminals suggested that Cho's actions probably had genetic causes.

"This is very different" from someone who was bullied to the breaking point — Cho was clearly psychotic and delusional, said Dr. Louis Kraus, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center.

"This type of mental illness that this poor man had was not something that was likely precipitated by teasing or bullying," he said. More likely, he said, is that Cho had a biological psychiatric disorder that may have worsened in recent years because of the pressures of college life and his leaving the support of his family

More interestingly, Cho was diagnosed as "Autistic" when very young due to delayed or inability to speak. This pattern is not at all unusual in some Schizophrenics who can manifest developmental and language delay problems early in life.