Thread: 35,000 New Yorkers have been deemed mentally unfit to own guns

Nearly 35,000 New Yorkers have been deemed mentally unfit to own guns under new post-Newtown massacre law

• Figure revealed by New York Times after Freedom of Information request
• It is a result of Safe Act, implemented after Sandy Hook massacre in 2012
• Part of act requires mental health workers to report 'dangerous' patients
• Less than 300 people on list had gun permit, which would've been revoked

By MATTHEW BLAKE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 04:34 EST, 20 October 2014 | UPDATED: 08:11 EST, 20 October 2014

Almost 35,000 New Yorkers are now listed as too mentally unstable to own guns in New York state, an explosive report has revealed.

The shock figure comes from a new database drawn up as part of the NY Safe Act, established in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

The 19-month-old law is one of the nation's toughest concerning mental health and firearms, and compels licensed mental health professionals in New York to report to the authorities any patient 'likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to self or others.'



+2Shock: The Safe Act compels licensed mental health professionals in New York to report to the authorities any patient 'likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to self or others.' (picture shows gun enthusiasts viewing a wall of Smith & Wesson handguns during a National Rifle Association convention)


Shockingly, the New York Times, which revealed the figures through a Freedom of Information request, reported that fewer than 300 of the people on the list had a handgun permit, which would then have been revoked. Officials say they're unsure how many guns were seized.

Mental health professionals must report patients seen as likely to cause serious harm to themselves or others. If county officials agree, the patients go into the database for five years.

The names aren't public.
But sources told the Times that the typical diagnoses are schizophrenia, psychosis or major depression.

The paper cited one case concerning a patient who had threatened to kill his partner. 'Becomes aggressive and unpredictable, has history of noncompliance with medications,' the Times reported the narrative as saying.



+2
Mentally ill: On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, who spent his entire life troubled by mental illness, walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School and shot dead 20 first-graders and six educators with a semi-automatic rifle before shooting himself. Before the spree he murdered his mother

'Two patients had attempted suicide with guns,' the Times added.

'Another “is exhibiting manic behavior,” the note said. It added that the patient was “not sleeping in the past few days, throwing lit cigarettes and matches around the house,” and had “a history of fire setting.”'

Some mental health advocates fear too many people are being deemed dangerous.

'[The figure] seems extraordinarily high to me,' Sam Tsemberis, a former director of New York City’s involuntary hospitalization program for homeless and dangerous people, now the chief executive of Pathways to Housing, which provides housing to the mentally ill, told the Times. 'Assumed dangerousness is a far cry from actual dangerousness.'

However, gun control advocates say the potential consequences merit casting a wide net.

The New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, commonly known as the NY SAFE Act, was established in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

The tragedy saw mentally-ill student Adam Lanza shoot dead 20 first-graders and six educators with a semi-automatic rifle on December 14, 2012, before shooting himself. Before the spree he murdered his mother, Nancy.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3GhSkLdLa

and compels licensed mental health professionals in New York to report to the authorities any patient 'likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to self or others.'

Sounds like the liberal psychologist are having a field day. If you can afford to be a gun owner in New York, you can afford to move and stop paying for the liberal socialist agenda. JMO

http://www.alipac.us/f9/supreme-cour...rights-313138/