NH Medicaid Expansion Law Clamps Down on Gun Purchases by Mentally Ill

New Hampshire will start turning over the names of dangerously mentally ill people to the FBI’s gun-buyer background check system, thanks to a little-noticed provision in the state’s Medicaid expansion law, state officials said Friday. The provision, which went into effect on April 6, allows the state to disclose the names to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, Attorney General Joseph Foster said in a letter sent Friday to Linda Dalianis, the chief justice of the state Supreme Court. The names of an estimated 300 people could be disclosed annually, said Deputy Attorney General Ann Rice. Until April, New Hampshire had been one of a handful of states — and the only New England state — to not submit identities of dangerously mentally ill people to NICS. In the past, gun rights advocates had staunchly opposed disclosure. But the provision to the Medicaid law was submitted by state Rep. J.R. Hoell, R-Dunbarton, a gun-rights supporter.

Source/more: New Hampshire Union Leader

David Wingate is an elder law attorney at the Elder Law Office of David Wingate, LLC. The elder law office services clients with powers of attorneys, living wills, Wills, Trusts, Medicaid and asset protection. The Elder Law office has locations in Frederick and Montgomery Counties, Maryland.