WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- The Virginia Tech shootings are spurring a proposal in the U.S. Congress to pressure states to report mental health records to a federal database.
State privacy laws are some of the biggest obstacles to reporting mental health records to the computer database checked by gunsellers, The New York Times reported. Only 22 states submit such records to the system, although federal law prohibits the purchase of guns by people found to be mentally defective or committed to a mental hospital against their will.
A bill before Congress would pay states that quicken their transmission of mental health commitments to the federal database by automating their records and would withhold some federal funding from states that don't comply.
Robin Peyson of the Texas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness told the Times that she would oppose any proposed change in privacy laws.
"Its unintended consequence will be to discourage people from seeking treatment when they need it most," Peyson told the newspaper.
