New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster’s recent announcement that the state will begin reporting those with mental illnesses to the federal gun background check system has spurred intense debate in the state.
After facing opposition from Republican lawmakers, who said the attorney general incorrectly interpreted state law, now the top attorney for the New Hampshire court system is saying the courts simply won’t comply.
The Concord Monitor explains what got us to this point:
Under federal law, people committed to a mental institution, or those who have been “adjudicated as a mental defective,” cannot legally purchase a gun. But federal statute doesn’t require states to submit those records to a background check system used to vet prospective gun buyers.
New Hampshire is one of a handful of states that historically hasn’t reported mental health information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, known as NICS.
In a letter sent July 22, Howard Zibel, the New Hampshire court system’s general counsel, told the attorney general that the new law “is not sufficiently clear on its face for the judicial branch to begin the reporting you request.”
The attorney general said the reporting was authorized in a provision within a new Medicaid expansion law approved by lawmakers. It’s not clear that lawmakers were aware of that. The Concord Monitor notes that Democrats, who support more stringent reporting, voted against the Medicaid provision in question.
According to the Concord Monitor, Mr. Foster’s new rule meant “the state must begin reporting people to NICS who are involuntarily committed to New Hampshire Hospital, found not guilty by reason of insanity or found incompetent to stand trial and ordered to a mental health facility.”
The local branches of the Disabilities Rights Center and the American Civil Liberties Union oppose any additional reporting to NICS and sent New Hampshire Chief Justice Linda Dalianis a letter to that effect last week.
What happens next? The attorney general can contest Mr. Zibel’s decision, he said in the letter. And as the Concord Monitor predicts:
The issue will likely face renewed scrutiny in the coming legislative session, but the tone of the debate will depend on which party seizes control of the Senate and House in November. Republicans currently lead both chambers.
(Published by The Wall Street Journal - July 27, 2016)