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Senator Young: The Governor’s Red Flag Bill is Unnecessary

June 18, 2018

ALBANY, NY – State Senator Cathy Young is opposed to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s red flag bill, to allow family members, educators and law enforcement, go to a judge to sign off on a protection order, to get a gun taken away from someone who is out of control. Governor Andrew Cuomo maintains that no law currently exists in New York State that enables a court to issue an order to temporarily seize firearms from a person who is believed to pose a severe threat of harm to himself, herself, or others unless that person has also been accused of a crime or family offense. Appearing on the Newsmaker Show this morning, Sen. Young talked about how there is already laws on the books, to get weapons removed from a dangerous person. “What the governor is proposing is to allow just allow just about anybody to go to court and take away someone’s gun,” Young told said. “It’s not well thought out, and frankly, there’s already a system in place in New York State, whereby if somebody is a danger to themselves or others, there is a process where someone can make a report,” the senator says it’s well established in the state law. “In New York, what can happen is if somebody is a danger to themselves or others, let’s say a family member thinks that, they can report it to a mental health professional. Or, if a mental health professional has somebody in therapy, or they’re aware of somebody, they can report it also to the county. The county, in turn, tells the state division of criminal justice services, who will investigate, and try to find out whether it’s a founGded report or not. If they find that the person is a danger to themselves or others, or if there is severe mental illness involved, they can take action, to remove someone’s weapons.”


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