AUGUSTA – Federal law prohibits anyone who has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution by a court from buying, owning or using a gun. Federally licensed gun dealers use background checks to determine if buyers are eligible or not.

But Maine does not currently report its mental health court records to the national database, so licensed gun dealers do not receive a red flag when someone who should not be buying a gun tries to.

Anne Jordan, commissioner of the state Department of Public Safety, said Maine law prohibit courts from releasing the records of citizens who have been involuntarily committed to mental health hospitals.

“Maine has a very, very strict confidentiality law right now. They cannot release those records,” Jordan said.

A bill before the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee would change that and bring Maine into compliance with federal law.

First sponsored almost a year ago by Rep. Sean Faircloth, D-Bangor, in response to the campus shooting at Virginia Tech, the legislation is co-sponsored by local lawmakers Sen. John Nutting, D-Androscoggin County, and Rep. John Patrick, D-Rumford.

“Someone who is mentally ill and been involuntarily committed will be in the database (as a result of the legislation), so that when they go into L.L. Bean or they go into the Kittery Trading Post, they can’t buy a gun,” Jordan said.

Nutting said it’s important that information is “passed along” to the national database.

Even the National Rifle Association agrees.

“The NRA has taken a position for decades that criminals and those who have been adjudicated by a court as mentally defective should be prohibited from purchasing firearms,” said Rachel Parsons, spokeswoman for the NRA.

The NRA is working with states to get them “caught up” with the federal law that changed last year, and make sure the National Instant Background Checks System, known as NICS, is one that works, Parsons said.

NICS is managed by the FBI and is the official database used by licensed firearm dealers to determine if a buyer is eligible or not.

Maine does not have the computer system in place to transmit the appropriate information to the FBI, but state officials hope to fund a new system by applying for a grant from the federal government.

Jordan said the information provided to NICS will not be available to the public or on the Internet.

“It’s not allowed to be publicly known or accessed,” she said. “It is strictly limited to criminal justice agencies and to those federally licensed firearm sellers.”

David Farmer, spokesman for Gov. John Baldacci, said the governor supports the concept and intent of the bill.

“We support tighter reporting requirements,” Farmer said. “The last thing we want to have happen is to say that we didn’t do something and then have something happen.”

The committee is expected to move the bill to the full Legislature sometime in the next few weeks.