Today Margaret Coulter, Health Policy Assistant for Senator Richard Burr, and I had a constructive conversation regarding the impact of mental health issues on gun violence prevention legislation.  Margaret indicated that Senator Burr had concerns pertaining to the privacy protection wording in the bill that was not passed.  He believes the HIPA laws would have been circumvented with the wording used in the bill and therefore could not support it.      He felt the bill could exempt HIPA and he did not agree with doing that.  She stated these were some of the unintended consequences of the bill that prevented Senator Burr from voting for it.  There is no doubt this is an important point but I indicated that the gun violence in this country is out of control  and needs to be addressed.   I asked Margaret to request Senator Burr to author a gun violence prevention bill he would support that addresses broader background checks, clear definitions for assault weapons and magazine capacity limitations.  She said she would tell him my thoughts and thanked me for contacting his office.