The HHS Office for Civil Rights has issued a request for information as it prepares to promulgate a rule to lift legal barriers related to the HIPAA privacy rule that may prevent states from reporting mental health information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Abbreviated as NICS, the system is used to prevent felons, those convicted of domestic violence and individuals with serious mental illnesses from buying guns. Leon Rodriguez, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, explained the goals of the changes being considered:
"I know that there are many misperceptions about how the NICS works and what information is or is not in the system. It is important to reiterate that the NICS is not a mental health registry and this rulemaking process will not create a mental health registry. Here are the facts:
* "If an individual is prohibited from purchasing a firearm due to specific mental health reasons as set by law, the following information is submitted to the NICS: (1) basic identifying information about the individual such as name, social security number, and date of birth, (2) the name of the state or federal agency that submitted the information, and (3) a notation on which of the ten prohibited categories is applicable to the individual, which allows the individual to appeal and seek to correct incomplete or inaccurate information.
* "The database that houses information on individuals prohibited from possessing firearms for reasons related to mental health-called the NICS Index-does not contain medical or mental health records.
* "When federally licensed firearms dealers request a NICS background check for a potential buyer, the only information they get back is that the potential buyer is approved, denied, or additional investigation is needed. The dealer does not receive any information about why an individual is denied."