A new law, that requires courts submit names of individuals who have been through the system with mental health issues, to the state so that their names be added to the FBI database that disqualifies buyers from buying and possessing firearms. A Northern Nevada court failed to comply with the new law as reported by a Reno Journal investigation, the courts’ failure to follow the law has raised some concerns that could also put the public at risk.

“When a person is not lawfully allowed to purchase a firearm and his name is not entered on a list that is designed to prevent a sale of a firearm to that person, that’s a concern for us in law enforcement and for public safety,” Washoe County Assistant Sheriff Marshall Emerson said.

Federal firearms laws such as the Brady Act prohibits any individual who has been found by the courts to have mental illness from purchasing or owning weapons and firearms. Gun stores, dealers and federal firearm license holders use the FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System or NICs Database to conduct their background checks ensuring guns don’t get into the wrong hands.

The Nevada Legislature passed a bill in 2009 requiring all state courts to send records of people adjudicated with a mental illness to the state Department of Public Safety so they can be added to the NICS database. Craig Franden, the acting administrator for the Washoe District Court, said the court was not aware of the new law until recently and is now working to meet the reporting requirements.