Syracuse Post-Standard’s report from last week shows that there the state made a list of 38,718 names, representing a collection of persons for whom it might be risky to won a gun, as deemed by health professionals, such as psychiatrist. When this was compared to the list of gun permit holders, the concurrence was less than 1%, at 278 names.
Leah Gunn Barret from New Yorkers Against Gun Violence is among those who claim that the list is rather small, since the population of the state is a whole 20 million. She also adds that “It only takes one individual to wreak mayhem and tragedy if they have access to a firearm.”
On the other hand, database size worries some mental health providers, such as the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services in Albany, Harvey Rosenthal, who says that it’s bigger than he thought. “It sends a message to those who might need care that there are a lot of people who are going to be in a database.”
Cortland County Clerk, Elizabeth Larkin, says that the police had, so far, confiscated guns from at least one person from the database. “We had another man who came in and voluntarily handed us his permit and gave his weapons to the police and said, ‘I don’t want them anymore,’” she adds.
Post-Standard said that the state does not keep records on the individuals in the database whose permits have been suspended and that the names from the list are confidential. Suspensions and confiscations must be signed by a judge and can be challenged by those about to lose their gun rights.
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