Should privacy be more important than safety?

[KrispyKreme]

CNN reported on this story (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/26/gun.data.ap/index.html) about whether or not medical records should be shared with law enforcement. I kinda find it surprising that people who have been involuntarily committed can still manage to get their hands on a gun, even though it says that federal law prohibits such a thing. So, basically, we're facing a privacy v.s. safety scenario. Should medical records be kept from law enforcement officers and keep the privacy of these people intact, or should these records be shared so that lives could potentially be saved?

EDIT: 21 states already share the records with law enforcement. So, I guess we can also add the argument of whether or not this should be a state or a federal decision.

[Chewie]

Mental illness no red flag in gun buying
State privacy laws often bar health records' inclusion in database

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In Alabama...

Well, there's your problem right there.

But seriously, I think this is the perfect case for why it SHOULD be allowed. I don't think people in this country really understand what guns are capable of. They are used to kill people, that is their PURPOSE. There needs to be a tremendous amount more regulation involving the sale of any firearms to anyone, and this would be part of that.