By Joseph Conn
The head of the 2.2-million member American Legion has joined a number of organizations that worry a tweak to the federal privacy rule for gun control will stop veterans from seeking mental health treatment for fear it will violate their Second Amendment rights.
Others, however, hope HHS’ expansion of access to behavioral-health information will lead to revisions in another key Code of Federal Regulations privacy rule, 42 CFR Part 2, which could further facilitate the sharing of some medical records. That 1970s-era law covers federally funded drug and alcohol treatment organizations, and by inference, the medical records of many behavioral-health patients.
The Obama administration this week announced a package of executive orders to prevent individuals from buying guns who legally shouldn’t be allowed to do so.
Among the orders was HHS’ release of a final rule that allows a select group of entities covered by the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to disclose certain information about behavioral-health patients without their consent to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal 
Background Check System (NICS). Under federal law, patients who have been committed to a mental institution or deemed “mentally defective” can be denied the right to purchase, carry or own a gun. Commercial gun dealers must do a background check on prospective gun purchasers through the NICS or similar state-run systems.
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