Caplan on Guns, Mental Health, and NY State Law

In a new article (free registration required), Art Caplan discusses recent gun control legislation passed in New York state.  Take a look at the full piece, but here’s an excerpt:

The NY SAFE Act requires individuals who own a handgun or an assault rifle to recertify their permits every 5 years; limits the capacity of ammo clips to 7 shots; clarifies and broadens the definition of assault weapons to restrict their sale; and requires nearly all gun transfers between private parties to be conducted through a federal firearms licensee, subject to a federal National instant Criminal Background Check. These are predictable, if tough to enact, actions when it comes to guns. What is somewhat surprising is that the law imposes new duties on mental health care professionals that will also be very difficult to implement.

Under the New York legislation, mental health professionals are required to report to local mental health officials when there is reason to believe a patient is likely to engage in conduct that will cause serious harm to himself or herself or to others. This information will then be cross-checked against a new gun registration database. If the patient possesses a gun, his license will be suspended and law enforcement will be authorized to remove the person’s firearm.

Kendra’s law, enacted in 1999, is extended for 2 years—through 2017. This law gives judges the authority to require people to regularly under-go outpatient psychiatric treatment. Under the NY SAFE Act, the period of mandatory outpatient treatment is extended from 6 months to 1 year.

There has long been a legal obligation in most states, generated by the famous 1976 Tarasoff case in California, that mental health care professionals disclose a threat of violence to an identifiable third party if they think the threat is credible and the act imminent. Both before and after Tarasoff, there have been ethi-cal and clinical obligations. The new NY SAFE Act would transcend New York State’s mental hygiene statute granting an “authority to warn” into a legal duty if the clinician believes that firearms may be involved. The problem is that there is not much evidence that mental health workers are particular adept at predicting violence. It remains to be seen if this reporting duty will produce greater public safety in New York.

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