Mentally Ill Gun Permit Holders Targeted Under New NY ‘Safe Act’
News 12 May 20, 2013
YONKERS – New York’s tough new gun law has county mental health departments scrambling.
“The Safe Act,” which recently went into effect, requires that authorities attempt to identify gun permit holders who may be mentally ill.
Under the law, health care providers are obligated to give their county departments of mental health a list of patients in their care who may be a danger to themselves or others. The county then delivers the names and addresses to the state, which checks to see if any of the names coincide with gun permit holders. If the names match, they are sent to a county judge, who may choose to revoke the permit.
So far, about 350 people in Westchester and Rockland counties have been named as potentially dangerous. Only one person in Rockland has had a gun permit license suspended so far.