The mess created by the NY gun control law

[tangent4ronpaul]

New N.Y. gun law's opt-out forms overwhelm clerks
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/30/new-york-gun-law-forms/2036327/

Tens of thousands of New York gun owners want to keep their names out of public records.

ALBANY, N.Y. — County clerks around New York say tens of thousands of pistol permit opt-out forms are flooding their offices as a state deadline nears for their completion.

But the counties have received no state money for the additional work, they say.

A provision in New York's new gun-control law allows state residents to exempt their pistol-permit records from Freedom of Information requests. But permit holders have until May 15 to file forms with their county or risk having their information available to the public.

"It started a little slow the first week with a couple of hundred a day, and now we get about 700 to 800 at the most per day," said Westchester County Clerk Tim Idoni. "People realize that the deadline is approaching."

Westchester County has received opt-out forms from more than half of its 16,800 residents who have active pistol permits, Idoni said. The provision was included in a state gun-control law in January after The (Westchester County) Journal News, a Gannett publication, released an interactive map the month before of pistol permit holders in Westchester and Rockland counties.

The state's new gun-control law also expands an assault-weapons ban, requires registration of guns every five years and limits the number of bullets in a magazine to seven.

The counties' gun-permit information will be kept private until May 15 when the opt-out forms take effect. Those who want to complete a form afterward still can, according to the law, but they won't be assured their information will be kept private in the meantime.

County clerks say the forms' popularity has office staff working overtime and clerks pulling workers from different divisions to help organize the information. Some clerks said they have started sending the forms to county judges for approval to stay ahead of the process.

"Right now we are absolutely overwhelmed, we have lines out the door and our staff are stressed to the max," Monroe County Clerk Cheryl Dinolfo said. "We are treading water and doing what needs to be done to get through the day."

Dinolfo said about 1,000 of the county's forms came from new pistol-permit applicants because the law also has spurred a surge in people buying guns. Monroe County, home to the state's third largest city in Rochester, has about 45,000 pistol-permit holders.

In most counties, county judges approve or deny the opt-out requests. Then the forms are sent back to clerk's offices where pistol permit holders' status is updated and logged as private.

The opt-out form allows a number of reasons a gun owner can seek to have information kept private. Among them: being a law-enforcement official or a victim of domestic violence, having a safety fear after grand jury service, or being concerned about harassment.

"The law is very unclear and never told those who do the work how this process should be completed," Cortland County Clerk Elizabeth Larkin said. "County by county they are trying to figure out how to comply with the law with no resources and no written regulations."

Cortland, with a population of about 50,000 people 30 miles south of Syracuse, N.Y., has 7,000 pistol-permit holders; more than 1,000 submitted an opt-out form. Additionally, Larkin said her office has had three times the number of people applying for pistol permits with lines often out the door.

State officials have said the new gun law shouldn't cost county governments anything more. State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico testified at a hearing in February that state would bear most of the costs.

Clerks disagree.

"We have not done any overtime, but it has been extremely difficult and my staff has gone without lunches and without breaks," Larkin said. "We may have to pull funds from contingency for supplies once it gets closer to the deadline."

Another unanticipated issue: Residents want confirmation that their information will be sealed, said County Clerk Nina Postupack of Ulster County just west of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Almost a quarter of the 20,000 residents with pistol permits have submitted opt-out forms.

Not all county judges are giving automatic approvals. Rockland County Clerk Paul Piperato said his county judge sent back forms that lacked information or failed to provide a legitimate concern for sealing the records. Piperato plans to return the forms to residents so they can resubmit them.

GOP Sen. Thomas O'Mara of Big Flats, N.Y., said the law should be changed to keep all gun information private. He is among gun-rights supporters who want a full repeal of the law.

"The opt-out should be done away with all together," he said. "There shouldn't be any disclosure of this information."

Some good-government groups disagree and supported The Journal News' attempt in December to get pistol-permit data from Putnam County, which refused to release the information. After the gun-law passed, the news organization took down its online permit map.

"We oppose efforts to undermine the integrity of the state's Freedom of Information Law and fear the slippery slope of carving out exceptions as an attempt to undermine the public interest," the groups said in a statement Jan. 8.

County clerks said they are bracing next for registration of assault weapons, set to begin April 15 when state police make forms available online.

"It is an unfunded mandate, and it was dumped on us," Larkin said. "It should have never happened on the state level with no thought of the consequences to local county offices."

-t

[tangent4ronpaul]

N.Y. budget bill suspends key gun-law provision
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/25/new-york-gun-control-law-change/2019465/

The proposal would lift the state gun law's ban on the sale of 10-bullet magazines.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A state budget bill introduced late Sunday indefinitely suspends a provision of New York's controversial gun-control law that prohibits the sale of 10-bullet magazines, a change that legislative leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo indicated recently that they would support.

The Education, Labor & Family Assistance portion of the budget makes clear that eight, nine or 10-bullet capacity magazines will still be available for purchase in New York after April 15, the effective date by which they were supposed to be banned. Owners, however, will only be able to load seven bullets into the 10-round magazines.

The New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, which Cuomo signed Jan. 15, had been set to prohibit the sale of magazines that can hold more than seven bullets as of April 15. But manufacturers do not sell seven-bullet magazines, so the change is being made, lawmakers said last week.

The magazine-capacity provision "shall be suspended and not effective," according to the budget language.

Under the change, if magazines are loaded with more than seven bullets outside of a gun range or competition, they would be illegal. The punishments vary depending on if the magazine was within the owner's home and whether it's a first-time offense.

Lawmakers made other minor tweaks to the law, as well, including a clarification stating that the law cannot be "deemed to affect, impair or supersede" any local gun restriction or law.

Gun-rights supporters said the changes demonstrate that the bill was passed in haste.

Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, said a full repeal is the "best-case scenario." He's been an outspoken opponent of the law.

Another Second Amendment rights supporter, Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, said he's co-sponsoring a bill to repeal the law.

"I'll say it again, and I'll say it 100 times: The SAFE Act was done too quickly. It's really not a good piece of legislation, and that's why I voted no," Libous said.

Sen. Thomas O'Mara, R-Big Flats, Chemung County, said he worried that the Legislature and Cuomo will balk at other changes.

"My concerns is that these changes are going to be the final changes that are made to the SAFE Act by this Legislature," said O'Mara, who also wants a repeal.

Fifty-one of the 62 county legislatures in New York have passed resolutions in opposition to the gun law, asking for a repeal or major changes.

Recent polls have shown that a majority of New Yorkers support gun control. Cuomo argued Monday that the law is a necessary response to gun violence nationwide, like the Newtown, Conn., massacre in December. The law will keep New Yorkers safe, he said.

"It's not just the Second Amendment rights -- people have the right to be safe," Cuomo said on "The Capitol Pressroom," a public-radio show.

"People have the right to be protected from random violence. And criminals and the mentally ill do not have a right to a gun -- they don't," he said. "And you need a system and government regulation to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill."

-t

[tangent4ronpaul]

Talks continue on altering N.Y. gun law
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/22/altering-ny-gun-law/2011571/

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo remain undecided on what changes to make to the state's new gun-control law.

Cuomo and lawmakers have indicated they plan to relax a soon-to-take-effect limit on magazine size, but they have yet to decide on other amendments to the law, which was adopted Jan. 15.

"The (governor's office) has a real conundrum," Republican Assemblyman Bill Nojay said. "Do you admit that you made a mistake when you passed this thing in January? ... or do you try to continue to bully your way through"

Nojay is one of several plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed Thursday that challenges whether the state's broader ban on assault weapons is in line with the Second Amendment.

But it's the stricter limit on magazine size that sparked discussions among lawmakers and Cuomo, leading the Democratic governor to support a change that would allow 10-bullet capacity units to be sold, but only loaded with no more than seven bullets.

The magazine limit -- which is currently set to take effect April 15 -- was a key part of the law.

Leah Gunn Barrett, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, said the potential change to the magazine law is "not ideal, obviously." She stressed, however, that her group remains supportive of the Cuomo-backed gun-control law.

"If they would make seven-round magazines, that would obviously be better," she said. "But I guess this is a concession to the manufacturers so they don't have to retool."

Cuomo acknowledged Wednesday that manufacturers do not make seven-round magazines, though he said criticism from those companies is not what make him consider an amendment to the new law. Instead, Cuomo said he's weighing a change because of an "inconsistency" in the law that allows gun owners to carry 10 bullets at a range or in competition, but doesn't allow them to purchase 10-capacity magazines.

Critics of the gun law -- known as the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, or SAFE Act -- say the push to change the magazine size points to the haste with which the legislation was passed. Lawmakers passed and Cuomo signed the law within 24 hours of when it was introduced, and the governor waived a mandatory, three-day "aging" period so it could immediately be put to a vote.

Cuomo this week pushed back against the suggestion that the bill was passed "hastily." Second-guessing laws and finding issues that need to be corrected are a normal part of the legislative procedure, he said.

"When you do a complicated piece of legislation, once it's out and once it's second-guessed and once it's viewed in total hindsight, you will find grammatical errors, you will find confusing things in a bill," Cuomo said Wednesday.

Other changes to the law have been discussed over the past few weeks, as well. In particular, the film industry may be exempted from the assault-weapons ban, while lawmakers and Cuomo are also considering whether it should apply to retired law-enforcement officials.

Sen. Jeffrey Klein, who heads the Independent Democratic Conference, said he only supports "very, very small technical amendments" to the gun law if it's going to be changed at all. His co-leader in the Senate, Republican Dean Skelos, has spoken out against exempting Hollywood industries.

"I still say that the bill that was passed, the SAFE Act, is the toughest gun bill in the nation," Klein, said this week. "I think it's a model that other states and the national government should replicate, and I stand by it."

Gun-rights supporters, including Nojay, said the flaws in the law point to poorly crafted legislation. Nojay said Cuomo is "getting bad advice" and is "living in a bubble on this issue."

"When the governor stood up in the State of the State address to say he understands guns because he owns a Remington shotgun, that was like Archie Bunker saying that some of his best friends are black," Nojay said. "It struck people as so totally disingenuous."

Others disagree. Gunn Barrett, the head of the anti-gun violence group, said the SAFE Act will save lives, regardless of technical changes.

"We hope that Congress will follow New York's lead," she said. "We hope they show the political courage to stand up to the National Rifle Association."

-t

[tangent4ronpaul]

Mental-health officials clash on N.Y. gun law reporting
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/24/mental-health-new-york-gun-law/2011399/

Will potential patients stay away if they fear their guns will be taken away?

ALBANY, N.Y. — Psychiatrists, county officials and law enforcement are questioning a portion of New York's new gun-control law that requires them to take steps that could lead to guns being seized from potentially dangerous people.

Since mid-March, New York's Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act has required mental health professionals to report when a patient is a potential danger to himself or others.

A county receives the information, decides whether to approve it, and if so sends it to the state for entry into a database. Local law enforcement officials then must suspend or revoke any gun licenses and remove a gun owner's firearms.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has touted the reporting requirements outlined in the law, saying they will keep guns out of the hands of the dangerously mentally ill and prevent mass shootings that have claimed more than 900 victims in the past seven years.

But parties who must participate in the process said the new law was hastily designed and broadly written.

"When someone drops a whole new set of rules out of the sky, ... you trip up on a lot of stuff," said Eric Caine, psychiatry department chairman at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Cuomo, who signed the law Jan. 15, has been discussing possible tweaks to the law with legislative leaders. But he's adamant the changes won't include significant revisions that mental-health experts are seeking.

"I am not open to any substantive changes on the law, period," Cuomo said when asked Wednesday about the proposed changes. "No substantive changes have been entertained."

The governor has come under fire since passing the law, which is considered the toughest gun-control law in the nation. Gun-rights groups said it violates the Second Amendment, and two lawsuits are pending.

Mental-health and other medical groups have pushed for amendments to the law to diminish potential liability and promote consistency with current law.

Reporting standards

New York's medical society and its psychiatric association wrote a letter March 1 to Cuomo explaining their problems with the law. Patients' advocates, nurses and social workers joined the groups in lobbying for changes.

Reporting standards vary from the criteria treatment providers typically follow. If a therapist believes a patient presents "a serious and imminent threat" to the health and safety of himself or others, the professional may report the patient to law enforcement or a potential victim without breaching confidentiality.

Under the NY SAFE Act, a therapist must report "when in their reasonable professional judgment," the patient "is likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to self or others."

The state Office of Mental Health, which has issued guidance materials including a 22-minute video tutorial on how to use the online reporting portal, maintains that the standard is the same as it has been.

Caine, who heads the University of Rochester suicide-prevention research center, agreed. But he said therapists are confused and will over-report as a result.

"Clinicians, not really understanding the nature of the law, may report people that the law never had the intention of being reported, and in the process, destroy all sorts of trust that might be there," he said. "We're not sure at all that it's going to make anybody safer, and it may have unintended consequences."

Therapists' chief concern is that patients feeling suicidal or homicidal might conceal their troubles to avoid having their guns removed.

The New York State Nurses Association wrote a memo March 13 to Cuomo arguing that the statute violates medical privacy laws and stigmatizes mental illness by linking it to gun violence, creating barriers for those who need treatment.

The groups also believe the language in the NY SAFE Act could make health officials vulnerable to lawsuits. Still, the law shields therapists from civil and criminal liability when the decision to report is made "reasonably and in good faith."

The groups want the law changed to shield therapists from liability unless they exercise "malice or intentional misconduct," which is harder to prove in court.

Who reports

Also in question is who should be required to report. The law states that physicians including psychiatrists, psychologists, registered nurses and licensed clinical social workers are obligated to make reports.

The groups argue that nurse practitioners, who have a higher level of education, should be included instead of registered nurses.

"The scope of practice of RNs does not extend to making the diagnosis and prognosis necessary to evoke a report," the medical society and psychiatric association wrote in its march 1 letter. The nurses association also objected in its memo.

Cuomo has responded to criticisms from the mental-health community, arguing that the law allows therapists a choice of whether to report. In addition to state groups' concerns, federal Department of Veterans Affairs officials have said they won't comply with the law.

"The law prescribes that it's basically in the discretion of a mental-health provider, and if a mental-health institution says they have confidentiality, they have secrecy, they don't want to share information, that's their business," Cuomo said.

When pressed that the law constitutes a requirement, not an option, for reporting, Cuomo said he couldn't imagine a situation where a therapist would choose not to report a dangerous person.

"If they have determined that someone is an imminent threat to themselves or others, I don't know what the ramifications are if they say, 'I concluded that, and I did nothing.' I don't think they'd ever be in that situation," Cuomo said.

Taking a gun

County officials want to be removed from the process, suggesting that therapists report directly to the state, the state Conference for Local Mental Hygiene Directors wrote in a February memo of opposition.

The process will be time-consuming and is an unfunded mandate, said Kelly Hansen, the group's executive director. Hansen also questioned the clinical value of the county officials' involvement because they don't know the patients.

"Why would anyone … question the clinical judgment of the person who has laid eyes on the patient and is treating them?" Hansen said.

Arthur Johnson, Broome County mental health commissioner, has handled a few reports in the first week since the reporting requirements have been in effect. He said approving the reports and forwarding them to the state generally has been simple although he did encounter a few glitches.

For one, some master's level psychologists are authorized to make a report but are not licensed by the state. While the reporting system automatically verifies the licenses of physicians, nurses and social workers, Johnson said his staff had to track down an unlicensed psychologist to confirm that the professional's report was valid.

Johnson said he and his colleagues in other counties told the state they want the ability to track the reports so they can make sure they've been processed.

"The professional making the report is exempt from liability, but the county is not," he said. "So we don't want any (reports) to fall through the cracks."

Law enforcement gets involved at the end of the process when state officials have identified whether reportedly dangerous individuals hold firearms licenses.

Putnam County Sheriff Donald Smith, who is the immediate past president of the New York State Sheriffs Association, said deciding whether to suspend or revoke a gun license and removing firearms already is part of his job: Sheriffs carry out orders to retrieve firearms from people who have been served with restraining orders.

"We know our citizens. We know our counties," Smith said. "So we strongly believe that the sheriffs would be deeply involved in the whole process."

But he said police question whether this law will help prevent violence because it ignores the issue of money.

"We certainly felt that there were some positive aspects of the law pertaining to mental health," he said. "But we felt that the actual funding of mental health treatment in New York state … needs to be addressed."

-t

[tangent4ronpaul]

Lawsuit challenges N.Y. gun law
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/21/lawsuit-challenges-ny-gun-law/2007131/

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The state Rifle and Pistol Association filed a lawsuit Thursday against New York's gun-control law, saying it violates the Second Amendment.

The association is the state's arm of the National Rifle Association, and it has protested the law passed Jan. 15 by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Buffalo.

"The National Rifle Association is committed to defending the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding New Yorkers," Chris Cox, executive director of NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement. "Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York state Legislature usurped the legislative and democratic process in passing these extreme anti-gun measures with no committee hearings and no public input."

The lawsuit is the second filed against the NY-SAFE Act, which is considered the toughest gun-control law in the nation. The lawsuit says that the assault-weapons ban infringes on people's right to bear arms.

"This is an action to vindicate the right of the people of the State of New York to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits infringement of the right of law-abiding citizens to keep commonly-possessed firearms in the home for defense of self and family and for other lawful purposes,"
(cont)

-t

[jkr]

SEE!!!
JOBS!!!

[Anti Federalist]

SEE!!!
JOBS!!!

You didn't build that.