No, not GENERALLY. This is a specific question on the Form 4473 a purchaser has to fill out. It's a trigger question for the seller. The backup is supposed to be NICS' having data like this in its database. There is a fault here - either with the Georgia Court system that put him in involuntary mental health status by not amending his records, OR by how NICS aggregates and logs data. One or the other. I ponder this. Our healthcare system is a huge array of connected databases and information and cross checks. Is all that working? If not, what leads one to think a NICS system works as well? My bet is NICS is comprehensive because their purpose is to keep guns out of the hands of any American, period. This certainly deserves more discovery.
I'm not sure that "mental health" records are included under the "Hippa" regulations or not but in general Hippa covers access to your health care (lab work, x-rays, cat scans, MRI data, prescription history, &c). I know I have to sign a release to obtain a copy of the results of a blood test.
Things may have changed since Obamacare mandated that all health records be collected in a digital format. I would hope that mental health data was held to the same standard as your physical health. However, I'm sure the health insurance carriers would just love to get their hands on all the "private" records so they could "adjust" rates dependent on your condition...
Regards,
GtG