CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - A Nevada senator says a lot of people diagnosed with mental health problems aren't being included in a national database used to check the backgrounds of gun buyers.

Republican Sen. Ben Kieckhefer of Reno says the number of court-ordered involuntary admissions to the state's two public psychiatric hospitals is much lower than the number cases referred and granted by the courts.

He says over the past two years petitions were filed seeking the involuntary commitment of 4,700 people determined to be a danger. Of those, Kieckhefer says only a fraction resulted in court-ordered commitments, a step that triggers a listing in the national database.

But Kieckhefer says in many cases, people are hospitalized without a court order while legal proceedings continue.

He wants to close that loophole.

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