State MH Reporting Requirements Vary for Firearm Background Checks

States vary widely in the reporting of mental health data to the federal system known asNICS that conducts background checks on people who want to own a firearm, astudy appearing inJAMA Internal Medicine has found.“Firearm access by individuals with mental illness is associated with increased risk of suicide or homicide,” wrote Deirdre Brown, J.D., Ph.D., of Seattle University School of Law and colleagues. “Although NICS [National Instant Criminal Background Check System] is intended to be a nationwide database, the substantial variability in reporting requirements across states suggests that the intended purpose of the NICS is hampered,” they wrote.Brown and colleagues used the Thomson Reuters Westlaw database to identify and collect data on each state ’s laws regarding mental health reporting requirements between February and April 2022. They analyzed data on whether the states required reporting to NICS, how many requirements the states imposed, and the type of mental health and/or substance use–related events that were required to be report ed.State laws were inconsistent as to whether data were provided to NICS: 39 states required reporting, five permitted reporting, three required reporting to a state agency but were silent about reporting to NICS, and three states had no reporting laws.Moreover, the number and type of mental illness or substance use –related varied from state to state:16 states required reports of individuals being adjudicated incompetent...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: background checks firearms JAMA Internal Medicine mental health reporting National Instant Criminal Background Check System NICS state laws suicide Source Type: research