Massachusetts keeps mental health data from FBI gun checks

[friendly_iconoclast]

http://bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/01/28/massachusetts-among-worst-sharing-mental-health-data-for-gun-background-checks/WmvEKsnUWsQWxvvsXwLY5O/story.html

Mass. keeps mental health data from FBI gun checks
State law prevents sharing of records on mental health
By David Uberti | Globe Correspondent

January 28, 2013

WASHINGTON — Despite its reputation as a state with strong gun-control laws, Massachusetts for more than a decade has not provided mental health records to an FBI database for gun background checks, the result of a 43-year-old state law prohibiting such sharing.

Massachusetts has submitted just one mental health record to the federal database since 1999 — apparently as a test — at the same time that the FBI has processed 1.6 million background checks of Bay State residents who seek to buy guns from federally licensed dealers. The situation has sparked concerns that firearms could fall into the hands of the mentally ill.

Governor Deval Patrick has twice tried unsuccessfully to get legislative approval for the sharing of mental health data. Both attempts failed to gain traction in the state Legislature amid opposition from gun-rights activists.

The governor renewed the effort earlier this month when he proposed universal background checks that include mental health information. Supporters said that momentum for revising the measure may have reached a tipping point in the wake of the shooting of 26 people in Newtown, Conn.

I should note that means Massachusetts does not report information about those judged incompetent in a court of law, which information should be passed onto the Feds.

Seng-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter would not have been reported under Massachusetts law.

[Silentnomore]

1. Doesn't this...

require a signed HIPPA release ?

[friendly_iconoclast]

2. I would think that a legal judgement of incompetence or court-ordered treatment...

...wouldn't, but then again I'm not familiar with that part of HIPPA law.