New Hampshire: Court, attorney general spar over mental health records

CONCORD, N.H. >> New Hampshire's judicial and executive branches are locked in a conflict over whether the state has new authority to send mental health records to the federal gun background checks system.

Federal law bars people who have been committed to a mental health institution or deemed "mentally defective" from buying guns, but New Hampshire is one of the few states that does not submit those records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Attorney General Joe Foster, with the backing of Gov. Maggie Hassan, told the court system to start sending in those records last month, based on his reading of a little-noticed piece of law passed this year. But the court system says, not so fast.

The law "is not sufficiently clear on its face for the judicial branch to begin the reporting that you request," Howard Zibel, the court's general counsel, wrote to Foster last month. Zibel said the decision to deny the request was made by a panel of administrative judges. He said the AG's office can challenge that decision and seek a judicial ruling in court.

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