New York Gun Control and Psychotropic Drugs

On April 1st, a legal gun owner in New York received a notice from the state requesting that he turn in any and all weapons to his local law enforcement department. The notice said that the gentlemen’s permit to own a gun was being revoked. The gun owner was a little confused, but did as asked, then contacted Jim Tresmond, an attorney who specialized in gun law in New York. The two made a little visit to the local police.

The local police were well aware of the letter because they had been contacted by the state police. The states intentions were that if people did not respond to the initial mailing local law enforcement is authorized to go to the gun owner’s home and ask the person to surrender their firearms.

In a conversation with Lawyer Jim Tresmond, he stated that his client has never had a problem with the law. He had no criminal record and or record of violence but his client did have a temporary short term health issue that had required medication.  

Three Questions:

How is this person’s private medical information and history being accessed by our government?? This is a BIG violation of HIPAA and the Health Information Privacy policies at HHS.gov.  Not only do I see this as a violation of HIPAA, but at my own job, I can get in trouble saying a patients last name out loud, which  also becomes a civil rights issue. When a patient is seeing a physician for the first time they are required to sign a HIPPA form saying that they understand that their medical information and history is for their relationship with the doctor and doctor staff only, and will not be used outside of that office. 

How did this even begin?  All thanks to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was able to push a gun control law in through the middle of the night. (Sarcasm noted)

How was confiscation (a legal seizure) so quickly put into effect? According to the NY SAFE ACT part of New York’s new gun law, it mandates confiscation of weapons and permits if someone has been prescribed a psychotropic drug. Let's have a little medical lesson, starting with what a psychotropic drug does. Psychotropic drugs affect mental activity, behavior and perceptions, as a mood-altering drug; also being defined as a tranquilizer, sedative or antidepressant. Now that we have that information we know that we are looking at people who have had some diagnosis either present or past including ADHD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and OCD.(Those are just a few examples). How many people do you know that fall into one of those categories? I'm sure a lot more than you think. Let’s go through some examples of Drug names for those disorders, Adderall, Concerta, Ritalin, Vyvanse, Ativan, Cymbalta, Effexor, Klonopin, Lexapro, Paxil, Xanax, Zoloft.. and the list goes on.

Now that you know you probably can't own a gun in the state of New York, we can go on with the story.

Oh No! They come to find out they also had the wrong guy.Yes, the wrong guy!

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New York state police came out to say that they had been provided information on the wrong person. They has been notified to suspend someone’s permit because of the new mental health provisions in NY SAFE ACT.

Looks like New York will not be receiving their Gold Star.

When we look at what constitutional rights have been violated in this mess we of course start with the one that has been in every single headline, our 2^nd amendment, the right to bear arms. The 2^nd amendment contains two clauses; the Militia Clause, a well-regulated Militia being necessary to security of a free state and the Right to Arms Clause saying, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.  Pretty simple, I think. According to the constitutional law, we also see this mess as a violation of our Right to Privacy. Our founding father understood our need to secure our pursuit of happiness including our rights to life and in violating personality, (the right to be left alone) which is considered the most comprehensive of rights and probably the most valued by civilized men, this is our 4^th amendment. Every violation of right to privacy must be deemed as a violation of our 4^th amendment. While are 4^th amendment protects our privacy, our 5^th amendment (protecting us from the abuse of government authority) which we also see in the 14th amendment, both being traced back to the Magna Carta.

Look at what has happened! This is such a "I told you so" proud moment for me!

I have posted below two videos of when we were told “Nobody is coming for your guns” since the gun control debate started.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo: "This is not taking away people's guns."

What a mess, if you ask me.

Sunshine Girl in Red.