like I said the system does have its quirks and problems, some mentally ill people are getting their guns from their relatives which cant be controlled.

look I dont want to turn this thread into a gun debate. my posts were to answer the posters statement that they dont know how gun dealers know a person has been hospitalized or mentally ill to prevent them from ......purchasing.....a gun.

bottom line whether we like it or not there is a system in place for treatment providers to report when they feel their clients are a danger to their self and others with...... purchasing guns....... (which was what a poster was wondering about)

and whether we like it or not here in america when someone goes to the hospital whether that hospital visit is medical or mental is just part of public records. people post about their going to the hospital on social media, newspapers sometimes list those in their reading areas that have been hospitalized. and if someone who is doing a background check on another person checks of the box for a "full disclosure" and in the details line writes they want to know if a person was hospitalized during a certain time period the info will be available to them. there are many different ways they can get that information... contacting the hospital directly, department of health, the county clerks office if its something like whether question on the background check form is about whether the person has a valid birth certificate, social media sites where most people post when they themselves are being hospitalized and for what which makes it public access because the internet is not covered by confidentiality, the whole world gets to see what people are posting....

line in the sand Im not going to debate guns when all I was doing was answering mavens statement of not knowing how the person they knew got denied for a gun because of mental illness. there is a database for that, whether we like it or not.