Gun permit reform

[mrreynolds]

In the months leading up to the ACA shooting, Jiverly Wong wasn't fit to own a weapon.

But legally, he had every right to.

Broome County District Attorney Gerald Mollen says there are some cracks in our gun laws and they need to be fixed, before tragedy strikes again.

"It just seems to make sense that if we're going to have people be able to possess and carry weapons at least we should have some regular check to just see if they're not having a psychotic breakdown," said Gerald Mollen, Broome County District Attorney.

To possess a gun in New York, you need a permit.

Mollen says that requires an application, references and background check.

Whether you're approved is at the discretion of your County Court Judge.

But in Upstate New York, you never have to renew your gun permit.

Just update it every 10 years...

Listing any new guns you may have purchased, or a change of address.

Mollen says a renewal, is a must.

'Create a system where at least once every 5-years you have to reapply," he said.

That's the law on Long Island and Westchester County.

In New York City, permits must be renewed every 3 years.

"They're finding it useful in recovering weapons and getting guns back from people who may be unstable," said Mollen.

ACA Shooter Jiverly Wong was issued his pistol permit in 1997 in Broome County.

Mollen says there's no telling whether a renewal in 2007, 2 years before the shooting, would have set off any red flags.

But checking more frequently to see if a person is fit to carry a weapon, could stop someone else in the future.

"And the family member says well, he's depressed over the past month the judge might flag it and say lets go get those weapons until we take a closer look at this," said Mollen.

Gun permit laws are set by the state.

Mollen plans to speak with our local representatives in the state Senate and Assembly about reforming them.

Again, he wants to see permit renewals required at least every 5 years in Upstate New York.

[LINK]

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Hiram25]

I have no problem with renewal, I have to renew my CCDW permit in Delaware every 3 years, and my HR218 (Nationwide LEO/Retired LEO Permit) requires that I qualify on my Department's firearms Course (Delaware State Police) every year. Also, our permits are automatically run through the State Criminal Background System every day, and should we have an issue, our permits are immediately suspended until the issue is resolved.

[GunGeezer]

Perhaps it would be reasonable to have the renewal form signed by a persons primary care practitioner stating that to the best of their knowledge the person is not undergoing treatment for any mental or psychological malady. It couldn't hurt.

[Hiram25]

It might have also helped if a few of the victims had been armed, they might have stopped this disaster before it became as bad as it was.

[DaveH]

All the arguments for restrictions on carry (e.g., “may issue”, OKs from the chief LEO required, prior training, proficiency testing, checking more frequently to see if a person is still fit to carry a weapon) are exactly the same as those that the hoplophobic use for restricting carry in the crazy patchwork quilt of hurdles to be cleared before exercising or continuing the exercise of our RKBA.

However, there is no evidence that there is any higher rate of gun related problems in those States with little or no such nonsense, as there is in those States with draconian restrictions on the 2A.

During a public panel Q & A session, I saw a leaders of the Antis, here in Virginia, sandbagged into actually defining what “reasonable restrictions” and adequate “training & proficiency” he would agree to as the minimum for carry. I know what Washington DC thinks is reasonable (no carry), what Chicago thinks is reasonable (only the connected), and what his-dishonor-from NYC talks about as reasonable. They are all extremely high hurdles or outright blocks to serve as prior-restraints on a right they do not want you (the average citizen) to have.

These antis are convinced that it is better to deny “the many” the right to protection because it could stop some small number from [fill-in-the-blank] in the future – all this hoopla while being in denial of the criminals’ disregard for those very laws that create vast “unarmed victim zones” on which those very criminals prey.

They preach “It could be, but never mind what it is doing”-- and that is not logical.

Wake up and take a breath the free air of those States w/o this hoplophobic nonsense. Then look around at the lack of carnage, such as we see reported from the major anti-gun States & cities.

The bottom line is that all these prior-restraints do not work. The blood baths that the antis hope that their manta might stop sometime in the future are happening, right now, in the “unarmed victim zones” as they continue to preach their trust-us-we’ll-take-care-of-you. OTOH, in places where the prior-restraints are being reduced crime is being reduced.

Want to live in a safer place either move to a State w/o this hoplophobic nonsense, or work to get it reduced in your State, but don’t buy into “let’s increase the prior-restraints on the RKBA, in order to be safer.

[SIGguy229]

How often do BGs renew their permit?

Oh wait....

A permit DOES NOT prevent ill intent or prevent crime...it's a tax to the state to exercise a right...

[rangefinder]

In Texas we were renewing our CHL every four years. I think that has been modified so that your third renewal is good for 10 years, but I'm not 100% sure.

When we renew our CHL it's almost like starting over. The paperwork is the same as the original - FBI print check, financial, legal and a check of medical records.

The part that really bothers me, ffrom the original post is:

"And the family member says well, he's depressed over the past month the judge might flag it and say lets go get those weapons until we take a closer look at this," said Mollen.

I'd hate to think my mother-in-law could have my weapons taken from me because she said I was depressed.

I don't know if there is a good way of preventing the average Joe from snapping or a sure-fire way to say the symptoms exhibited will have bad consequences. We can all have a bad day. There's enough paranoia already.

Until the pefect system is developed thecitizenry should not be incumbered from defending themselves.

[retsupt99]

FL is now every 7 years ($65) for a renewal to the law abiding citizen...criminals don't have to get renewals.

[Super Trucker]

Every 5 years it cost $105.00 to renew in MI.

[peckman28]

That is a bunch of stupid crap and I hate NY so very much. Those worthless morons can't look over the border to VT where there are no permits at all and see that crime is not a major problem there. That state deserves to go bankrupt and have to start all over again, and people like this DA do NOT deserve a job.

[razor02097]

If Mollen gets his way... it would be the simple fact that they could at any time take all my guns would depress me.... what would they do next? Kill my dog cause I feed her table scraps? Burn my house down cause I don't mow the yard regularly?

Mollen can shove his ideas up where the sun don't shine

[jplate3]

'Create a system where at least once every 5-years you have to reapply," he said.

Renewal, I don't mind. New background check, you betcha! Reapplication, not a f@!#$% chance! Have you seen the application process in NY?!

ACA Shooter Jiverly Wong was issued his pistol permit in 1997 in Broome County.

Mollen says there's no telling whether a renewal in 2007, 2 years before the shooting, would have set off any red flags.

A re-check in 2007, probably wouldn't have raised red flags.....but I'm not sure how he got a permit in 1997. The news media released that he was a NY resident in the 80's, became a US citizen in 1995, but lived in Canada in 1997 and California in 1999. Given the fact that NY does not issue non-resident permits, I think this articles time line is a little off.

Even so, let's say he gets his permit in 1995, and is up for renewal in 2000. An address change is one of the things you have to amend on your permit right away....so as soon as he moved outside of NY, by law, his permit should have been surrendered.

Same old story, pass as many laws as you want....criminals don't follow them. The fact that he had a NYS pistol permit is a moot point because it was not valid when he committed his crime.

[jplate3]

If Mollen gets his way... it would be the simple fact that they could at any time take all my guns would depress me.... what would they do next? Kill my dog cause I feed her table scraps? Burn my house down cause I don't mow the yard regularly?

Mollen can shove his ideas up where the sun don't shine

That's the way it is now!!

You cannot even own a pistol in NY without a permit, and your permit is revocable at ANY time by any judge in NYS. If you get your permit revoked, you better have a backup plan for your handguns because you have to surrender them.

[StevePVB]

I think most of us realize there is only one reason for the renewal -- $$$. My "quals" to get my permit (Honorable Discharge and old enough) won't change over time.

Best I can tell, the 3 year renewal is NYC is irrelevant. Normal folks won't have a permit in the first place.

[Gun Bunny]

Well, you won't get any "Hoosiers" to sign on, Not that we now have the "Life-Time" LTCH! We don't seem to have any problems!