(WSBT) The shooting death of a South Bend Police Officer is raising new questions from some Indiana State lawmakers, who say they see "a lapse in information sharing that may be helping to put guns in the wrong hands."

Scott Barnaby shot Patrolman Michael Norby and killed Cpl. Nick Polizzotto on April 24 at the Wooden Indian Motel. Barnaby was also killed in the shootout.

It's been nearly 40 years since Congress voted to ban the sale of firearms to anyone deemed "mentally defective" by a judge. But privacy laws in more than half the states in America — including Indiana — prevent mental health records from showing up in the F.B.I. database used to check the backgrounds of potential gun buyers.

Chris Barnaby says his brother Scott's records should have shown a lifelong battle with paranoid schizophrenia and a history of treatment at four institutions, including one in Grand Rapids, Mich., that was court ordered.

"We had him forcibly committed there," said Barnaby in an exclusive interview with WSBT. "Yes, he's absolutely been in a mental institution."

On Monday, Virginia Police confirmed that Virginia Tech gunman Seung Hui Cho was also ordered to receive treatment by a judge who declared him "dangerously mentally ill."

But police say he never went.

Since Virginia does share its records, that information should have showed up on Cho's federal background check.

But it came back clear.

So did Barnaby's background check — the day after the gun was used to kill Cpl. Polizzotto. State Representative Jackie Walorski, R-Lakeville, is one of a growing number of voices asking why.

"To purchase a gun even at a gun show, you're supposed to show your permit to carry," she said. "And if you don't have a permit to carry, you shouldn't be sold a gun to begin with. And the permit to carry requires you to have a clean background check in the state of Indiana done by the Indiana State Police. So there's many cracks in the system this guy fell through."

State records show no one named Scott Barnaby has ever held a handgun permit in the state of Indiana. Even so, Walorski says new laws — and shared information aren't the answer. She's pushing instead for stiffer penalties for those convicted of shooting at police.

"It's a no tolerance policy," she said, "where the community takes a stand and says enough is enough. We're not going to lose another officer."

Chris Barnaby says he'll join that battle. But after 40 years, he still wants to win the war.

"I don't know what the answer is," he said. "But I know it's something that needs to be addressed."

Indiana House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer called this an "emerging issue" Tuesday, and says he expects there will be more talk about it during the next legislative session.

Meanwhile, Congress is considering its own bill that would encourage states to share mental health records by giving them more than $1 billion dollars to help cover the costs.