Is New York Preparing to Put Gun Owners in Mental Hospitals?

New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Democrats and Republicans have worked out a tentative deal on rolling back the Second Amendment in the state. They have also proposed declaring gun owners mentally ill.

Lawmakers will debate aspects of the new proposals today in the Senate and Assembly, according to NBC in New York.


The deal would further restrict so-called assault weapons and limit the size of rifle magazines from the current 10 to seven bullets.

In addition to mandating the sort of weapons and the size of magazines the government will allow the state’s residents to possess, legislators want to enact a law that would allow “civil confinement” of people considered a threat.

Civil confinement was advocated by former New York governor Eliot Spitzer. The procedure allows the state to commit sex offenders to mental hospitals for life.

New York has signaled it will now apply the procedure to gun owners it deems a threat.

The standard of proof in committal proceedings is generally lower than the beyond a reasonable doubt standard stipulated by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

Short of actually confining gun owners, the law may be used to deny targeted individuals the right to own firearms after a court determination. For instance, in Oregon, individuals who have been committed are forbidden from owning, buying, or possessing firearms.

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