Gov. Cuomo wants the Legislature to enact a red flag law that allows teachers to petition a court to disarm their students — who cannot purchase firearms to begin with. (Photo: Flickr)
New York Gov. Cuomo pushed legislation this week that would create a system of gun confiscation for those deemed by the state to be an “extreme risk” to themselves or others.
Cuomo’s “red flag” bill differs from some of the others we’ve seen crop up in recent months because it takes it one step further in that it not only allows family members and police officers to seek a gun confiscation order but allows school personnel to do so as well.
Calling school shootings a “new and frightening phenomenon,” Cuomo said that rolling out a red flag bill is the “next step” to improving public safety.
“We want to continue to make New York safer. And continue to show this country that we can do something,” said the governor at a Manhattan press conference Tuesday.
Sorry governor, school shootings are not a new phenomenon and they’re not happening with more regularity despite what you hear from the mainstream media. (Photo: Northeastern.edu)
What’s not immediately clear is how the red flag bill works within a school setting (K-12). Under New York State law, persons under the age of 16 may not legally possess a firearm. Assuming a 14- or 15-year-old student is exhibiting suicidal or homicidal behavior, petitioning a court to seize his guns doesn’t do much good because he’s already banned from possessing firearms. If he has a gun on his person he is breaking the law. In which case he should be arrested and there would be no need to raise the red flag. Cops can simply take him into custody.
SEE ALSO: Academics Find School Shootings Are Not More Common Than They Used to Be
In cases where the student is 16 and older, the state would have to confiscate the firearms gifted to the teen because New York residents cannot lawfully purchase a firearm until the age of 21. However, just impounding the teen’s firearms does not mean the state is fully eliminating his access to guns. What if his parents or guardians own guns? What if his siblings own guns? How does the state ensure he doesn’t get a hold of arms that don’t belong to him? Does it confiscate all the guns in the household, including the ones owned by family members?
I emailed those questions to Cuomo’s office and am awaiting a reply. We’ll see what they say.
I also asked the obvious question that underscores the problem with Extreme Risk Protection Orders. What does the bill do to treat those deemed an “extreme risk”? Confiscation is only part of the equation. The other part, the more critical element, is ensuring the troubled teen gets help!
Taking guns away does not mean the teen is no longer a threat to himself or others. We don’t treat alcoholics just by confiscating their beer. Why? Because they’ll find more beer. Or, if really desperate, they’ll drink mouthwash. We treat alcoholics by putting them on a path to recover. The question for Cuomo’s administration is what sort of recovery program exists for those slapped with the “extreme risk” label?
During the conference, Cuomo also announced a measure to extend the waiting period for gun purchases, specifically in cases where the gun dealer receives a “delayed” response (instead of a “proceed” or “denied” response) from the FBI after it processes a background check on a prospective purchaser. Under federal law, the gun dealer can proceed with the sale of a firearm after receiving a “delayed” response if the dealer does not hear back from the FBI within three days. Cuomo wants to increase that wait time to 10 days to give the FBI more time to clear the purchaser.
SEE ALSO: Exclusive: ‘Sending People Home To Die,’ The Truth About Red Flag Laws
Lastly, Cuomo poo-pooed the idea of arming teachers.
“The president has said that the answer is we need to give teachers guns. To me that is a bizarre concept,” said Cuomo, who is running for re-election this year. “Teachers are not there to carry firearms and engage in shootouts in a school setting with hundreds of students in the venue. You don’t become a school teacher to become a security guard or a police officer. You become a teacher to become an educator.”
Funny but couldn’t the same argument be made to oppose teachers acting as psychologists or psychiatrists or mental health experts?
Teachers are not there to diagnose mental defectives in a school setting with hundreds of other students to educate. You don’t become a school teacher to become a psychologist or psychiatrist. You become a teacher to become an educator.
Not all teachers are the same. Treating them as a monolith incapable of learning the fundamentals of self-defense and the tenets of responsible gun ownership is selling them short. More to the point, it’s cheating the very students you, Gov. Cuomo, claim to represent from the one thing they want most: a safer learning environment.
No one, regardless of their profession, wants to confront an armed assailant. But sometimes one is left with no choice. In that instance, one will fight as they have trained and use the tools they have at their disposal to engage the killer. Everyone, teachers included, should be allowed to prepare as they see fit for the unthinkable.
New York? Anything they come up with just takes rights and accomplishes nothing.
I don’t think this is to get guns from the students. It’s to get them from their parents. A teacher, who dislikes guns, decides a student is having a problem at home and decides to report it. Whether or not there is actually a problem, only the teacher knows. These Red Flag laws are flawed is so many ways.
Somebody needs to red flag his communist Red ass as a threat to my safety . I feel threatened by his tyrannical abuse of power . I am in fear for my life . Kinda like how my Grandmother must have felt when she decided to escape Russia under Lenin’s same policy of turn on your neighbors.
These draconian anti-gun laws will ensure that Conservative Constitutionalists will be elected. The people of New York, New Jersey, and California, don’t represent the entire country. But if the electoral college is removed, they will have the majority vote.
Another problem is nowhere in the bill does it specify students. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is saying student and it’s being report that way by the media “Authorizes courts to issue a temporary extreme risk protection order upon application for an extreme risk protection order if there is probably cause to believe that an individual poses a risk to themselves or others if they are able to purchase or possess firearms (Sec. 1).” that individual could be a parent or relitive . Which means that could encourage student to report their parents for having guns.
May every one of the cuomos drop stone dead.
Another dnc lying sack of s***
“What’s not immediately clear is how the red flag bill works within a school setting (K-12).
The law would allow for the confiscation of firearms from the HOME of students, not just firearms that the student himself owns.
https://nypost.com/2018/06/05/cuomo-pushes-red-flag-bill-to-remove-guns-from-homes-of-troubled-students/
SO TEACHERS CAN KMOW PRACTICE MEDICINE WITHOUT A LICENSE.TOTALLY WRONG.
The article points out one of the most dangerous parts of this bill: So a teacher reports a kid is ‘at risk’ and starts the process of removing THEIR guns from the house (if THEY even have any). Big problem is who decides which guns get to remain? So ‘junior’ has a .22 that was gifted to him at 17. Dad keeps it in the safe with all the rest. The courts don’t trust the parents when they say junior does not know the combination so now all the guns are removed in the name of public safety. What about all of juniors friends that have access to guns? Which means junior has access to them? Do they start taking all of his friend guns that are in THEIR home?
this is the kind of dumb ass laws these so called smart people come up with LOL
everyone is all about the guns , how about the knifes. The stabbing victims that die in or outside of schools
And around the city or state of NY . apparently these victims don’t matter ????
EXACTLY how many times has a school shooter shown his firearm to a teacher beforehand? Talk about a stupid attempt to curry favor with the Anti crowd. “We’ll make this ALREADY illegal activity illegal. That’ll stop them!”. Idiot.
Here is a question for Cuomo, Governor can you please give us WE THE PEOPLE a count of just how many LIVES the GUN FREE ZONE SIGN has saved in comparison to how many lives have been saved by a law abiding citizen who is armed and willing to confront and engage the shooter ? I for one being a parent with children in public School do not have a problem with a Teacher who passes a background check, receives training on safe handling a fire arm being armed to protect my children. Also having an armed guard at the only entrance to the building open to the public during class time along with a metal detector on same entrance.
If the child is the threat to themselves or others, why not remove the child from the home(instead of their parent’s firearms). Then, the child could be placed in a safe environment where they could receive observation, evaluation, and counseling that deals with the root cause of child’s threatening behavior.
If not, you would also have to remove all sharp objects, blunt objects, medications, vehicles, ropes, cables, water, electricity, etc. from the home too. These tools could also be used by these individuals to inflict harm on themselves and others.
It is glaringly apparent that Democrat politicians are the enemy of the Americans and the Republic. Ignore and resist.
So, you authorize the most liberal group to help regulate firearm possession?
Hmmmmmm……….
Scary
I think it’s about time Coomo pass a law allowing teachers to disarm armed members of ISIS, Chechen rebels, and Hamas.
This is just another end around attempt at confiscation of law-abiding citizens firearms. You can damn sure bet if the kid the teacher thinks is going to off has a gangster thug for a parent they won’t dare confiscate his/her guns for fear of retaliation!
This is about trapping the parents. All it probably takes is the kid saying at one point they had access to the gun and your done.
Who thinks this shit up? ” I don’t have a gun, Johnny, give me yours” roflmao at these jerks!!
Just exactly HOW is an unarmed teacher going to disarm an armed student (suicide)? Jon.
Red flag, not disarm.
Yet another piece of asinine legislation from a complete libtard twit. Did I read the world ALLOW teachers to take guns away form students that can’t have them in the first place? Where are the cops in all????
This is just a back door method to confiscate guns. Soon the law will apply to everyone deemed a ‘danger to society’ and will have their guns confiscated.
Not sure what e-device is but passing on a military score sheet is not sufficient when shooting among innocents.
And, I know of more than a few teachers that are prior military aka soldiers. No one is talking about every teacher packing. That argument expresses the ignorance of the facts by the people who make it.
The proposal was that teachers would be allow to be armed on a voluntary basis and then only after adequate training. And I would include a stipend for those who do step up to do what it is they say they want, safer schools.
This and controlled entrances is the answer. It worked in airports, sporting venues, concerts, special events, ( it’s obviously not an alien idea) it will work in schools.
Hi Wil French
QUOTE:1.) Force all entry and exit into and out of the school…..through ONE set of doors….the primary entrance. Don’t allow entry from back doors or side doors ( no handle on outside) to still allow emergency exit.
It won’t work in a lot of schools in Florida because of outside walkways with a door to enter each classroom.
It will work great in a building but only if all students and faculty are wearing a photo ID tag.
Ever since Sandy Hook….I’ve been sayung this for YEARS ….all to deaf ears. We cannot completely stop insane actions. But we can put a big dent in it.
1.) Force all entry and exit into and out of the school…..through ONE set of doors….the primary entrance. Don’t allow entry from back doors or side doors ( no handle on outside) to still allow emergency exit.
2.) Don’t EVER publish that a school is a GUN FREE zone. That is simply the sheep telling the wolf ” Come here to get me”. Let the perp think ..”maybe there are armed people inside…maybe not”. Regardless if teachers are armed, not armed, or if there are trained armed security personnel there or not. Keep the perp guessing. Keep the option open, however, to get either teachers or security people to be armed. Bias the actions toward having an armed deterrent in-place.
3.) Metal detectors at the main entrance. Yep….like airports and (it seems) all local gov’t buildings I’ve visited. Seems the cost to do this is OK for gov’t and court buldings….but not to help protect our children from harm.
That is exactly right. The only thing that bothers me is that the last guy initiated a fire alarm and then waded into the evacuees. All schools that I have seen in the past 20 years have fencing surrounding them. This needs to be the first secure perimeter. Then funnel them through a secure entrance. The entrance will need multiple stations to allow rapid flow into the building, minimizing the chance of a back up outside of the building.
The facts and common sense don’t matter. If Cuomo and Bloomberg’s boys can seize any gun they will go fo it like a leftist for a handout.
THATS A BRILLIANT IDEA. SO NOW UNARMED TEACHERS CAN ATTEMPT TO DISARM TEANAGERS? THATS A GREAT IDEA. WHAT COULD GO WRONG?
I love Trump bit this is where we part ways on issues . Teachers are not soldiers nor law endorsement. Several things can happen because of one thing, stressed knee-jerk reactions under real world stress.
We dont arm teachers point blank, but we shouldn’t stop CC on campus for those who maintain a monthly stress defense class that is certified and has certificates of score values with a minimum required score of % of shots on target vs missed.
Would suck to be a tracher and drop a wrong individual!
Score thru military marksmanship standards. Maybe even give e-device on a marksmanship course.
Just a few dollars worth of my cents.