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Panel Divided Over Bill Requiring States to Report Involuntary Psychiatric Commitments to NICS
Summary
House Bill 159 would add the names of people involuntarily committed as dangerous to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS); testimony split between clinicians, suicide‑prevention advocates and gun‑rights groups over privacy, due process and public safety.
The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee took testimony on House Bill 159, a bill that would require New Hampshire courts or the Department of Safety to submit identifying information for people the court finds to be a danger to themselves or others and who are involuntarily committed, so the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) would block firearm purchases by those individuals.
Representative Terry Roy (Rockingham) sponsored the measure and said the change is intended to close a reporting gap: under current practice, New Hampshire does not routinely forward names from involuntary commitment findings to NICS, and the committee heard testimony that gaps contributed to a fatal shooting at New Hampshire Hospital where the shooter had…
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