Bill > S2872

This bill, the Promoting Healthy Minds for Safer Communities Act of 2014, aims to enhance mental health services and improve public safety by strengthening the nation's mental health infrastructure, increasing understanding of violence, reinforcing firearm prohibitions for at-risk individuals, and improving the reporting of mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is a system used to check if a person is eligible to purchase or possess a firearm. Key provisions include establishing grant programs for mental health crisis assessment, prevention, and education, as well as expanding school-based mental health programs and justice and mental health collaboration initiatives. The bill also supports research into violence and the epidemic of gun violence, while clarifying that physicians can still inquire about firearm safety and report threats of violence. Furthermore, it expands firearm prohibitions to individuals involuntarily committed on an outpatient basis for mental health reasons, creates a grant program related to firearms, and mandates notification to law enforcement when an ineligible person attempts to purchase a firearm. Finally, the bill includes provisions for restoring firearm rights under specific conditions and significantly enhances the submission of mental health records to the NICS to aid in enforcing firearm prohibitions.