Posted on 04/26/2013 5:55:18 AM PDT by pabianice
(GunNews.com) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has initiated a rulemaking process to remove unnecessary legal barriers under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule that may prevent states from reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is the database that houses information on individuals prohibited by law from possessing firearms.
This is one of the 23 executive actions the President announced in January.
Through the public comment process, we will use the data and information provided by states, health providers, patient advocates and others to determine how best to remove unnecessary barriers to NICS reporting while protecting patient privacy, Sebelius said in an April 19 HHS release.
The NICS was created by the Brady Act and ensures that guns are not sold to those prohibited by law from buying them, including felons, those convicted of domestic violence, and individuals involuntarily committed to a mental institution or found to be a danger or unable to manage their affairs due to a mental health condition.
According to a 2012 Government Accountability Office report, 17 states had submitted fewer than 10 records of individuals prohibited for mental health reasons.
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) plans to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to ask for the publics input on how HIPAA may prevent some states from reporting to the NICS and ways in which these barriers can be addressed without discouraging individuals from seeking mental health services.
In order to protect our children and communities, we must ensure that information on potentially dangerous individuals who are prohibited from possessing firearms is available to the background check system, said Secretary Sebelius.
Through the public comment process, we will use the data and information provided by states, health providers, patient advocates and others to determine how best to remove unnecessary barriers to NICS reporting while protecting patient privacy, said OCR Director Leon Rodriguez.
The database that houses non-criminal justice 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.
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 if needed.
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 and does not ever have access to any records of potential buyers, including health records.
The ANPRM will be available for review.
And who’s suprised by such a thing?
And trust me it won’t stop there if there is no resistance
So, the FBI, NSA, CIA, and DHS have a hard time talking to each other about terrorist immigrants, but your nurse’s aide will have no trouble blocking your pistol purchase through the DOJ.
Ten categories could be expanded to 100 with little to no fanfare. Pretty soon, everyone will be denied for some reason or another, and the appeals process will be backlogged, confusing, and convoluted.
And the liberals will have won.
GOA predicted this in 2007.
Here comes the total control matrix.
Who is going to be a “dissident” when it might mean your health records are “accidentally deleted?”
Or you lose your RKBA?
Or you child might not get a needed operation. “Sorry, no more slots are available this year. Apply again next year.”
This is the face of an evil dictatorship.
So all those millions of Americans who are on SSRI meds will have their guns confiscated. Just one of the repercussions.
Some free advice:
Doctors are, currently in some places and soon will be in others, asking patients and even children, “Do you or do your parents have guns in the house?”
My children know to look the doctor or any other adult who asks in the eye and “I do not know.” I and my wife will take the liberty of lying outright if necessary. Your ownership of firearms will soon be something kept in your medical records.
My children’s pediatrician asked me this several years ago. I told him he should never ask that question again. He apologized profusely and started to explain why he is now supposed to ask. BTW - He has his carry license and does carry concealed. Go figure.
What could possibly go wrong with this?
I understand completely, and am also prepared to lie as well. I might even through in a few anti-2nd ammendment decoy remarks if I’m asked.
Those “unnecessary legal barriers” were the very backbone of HIPAA when it was first introduced. An onerous burden upon doctors at first, making a lot of paperwork and much arcane and tedious language when discussing diagnosis and treatment of individuals.
Apparently there is no longer any expectation of privacy in ANY transaction today, with the exception of what the Current Regime is doing in the White Hut. Whatever is going on there, is classified so highly that only the enemy shall ever find out what is going on, if in fact the denizens of the White Hut are not in active collusion with what are perceived to be enemies of the republic.
I yearn for the days when the only worldwide competition the US faced was the Communist menace. This revival of the Ottoman Empire and its Worldwide KKKaliphate is a reversion to the collapse of Rome, this time America playing the part of the Caesars.
A law to enforce a law? Truly Kafka-esque
They won’t really need to take the guns away. The Marxists know how to wait. Make new gun purchases difficult and dry up the ammo.
Making gun ownership a major hassle and legal risk has worked wonders in blue states. I read recently that gun ownership in some states has dropped from around 40% to 10%, because keeping your guns legal is a major PITA, and if you make a mistake, you could be arrested.
Abnormal Is the New Normal
Why will half of the U.S. population have a diagnosable mental disorder?
I call BS on that stat. I surmise it has gone up, exception being a few deep blue states, but they are also the biggest hypocrites in the world as well.
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