Posted on 04/11/2013 11:14:16 AM PDT by Red Steel
In a surprising turnaround, New York State Police have admitted that they made a mistake when they confiscated the guns and suspended the permit of an Erie County resident on the grounds of mental health.
Late Wednesday, Erie County, NY, released a statement (posted below) blaming the New York State Police for giving them bad information regarding the suspension of a pistol permit and demand to surrender firearms sent to Amherst resident David Lewis.
(Mr. Lewis was not identified in our original story, his name has since been released in conjunction with court documents filed by his attorney, Jim Tresmond.)
“Erie County Clerk Chris Jacobs said that late today he received a call from the New York State Police informing him that they had provided information on the wrong person when they notified his office of someone whose permit should be suspended because of the new mental health provisions in New York’s SAFE Act,” the release begins.
“When the State Police called to tell us they made a mistake and had the wrong person … it become clear that the state did not do their job here and now we all look foolish,” the release went on to say in a quote from Clerk Jacobs.
Jacobs appeared on WBEN radio in Buffalo on Thursday morning and explained the details of this administrative debacle. Mr. Jacobs also delivered some pointed comments about how the law was written so badly that mistakes like this were bound to happen. He closed with some fairly damning statements and also asked the state to consider scrapping the bill and re-writing it.
“When you write a piece of legislation in a vacuum, without having hearings, without talking to people about how it’s going to implemented in the real world — without jeopardizing people’s rights, and putting an individual like this through a nightmarish experience, and infringe on their rights, you have to go back to the drawing board,” he said. “And I encourage the legislative leadership here and mostly our governor to take a step back and say ‘we didn’t get it right’ and let’s change this.”
Read WBEN’s full story on Jacobs here.
After the press release was issued by the state, TheBlaze spoke with one of Mr. Lewis’ attorney, Max Tresmond.
“We won round one,” he said, “round two will be a suit against the state for what they did to our client and his reputation.”
Here is the press release admitting to the error in this gun confiscation:
So now the whole world knows Mr. Lewis is using drugs to treat a mental health issue.
Great job NY State Legislatures and Governor.
Is he the wrong person because he was not on the medication or because he fought back? “they had provided information on the wrong person when they notified his office of someone whose permit should be suspended because of the new mental health provisions in New York’s SAFE Act,” the release begins.”
Very true. But, if the Judge has not reinstated the permit by now, then they are to be faulted, both clerk and Judge. Now that his name and location are known, every night he goes to bed without his weapons back in his possession is a risk he'll be attacked by someone who knows he's unarmed.
Did I miss something in the article? I still don’t know where Mr. Lewis’ confiscated guns are.
“And what is this nonsense about “received a call.” Was not the initial charge in writing? Is whoever in the NY state Police who’s job it is to perform the formalities not have time to inform the judge, in writing, of the error?”
Indeed. Find out who perped this thing, find the signature chain, publish the results, and let those who did this start worrying about starting their cars.
You know, before Obama, we had the same kind of people. In the past, before Obama, we’ve had a govt which thought it could spray us with germs on subways, for goodness sake. We’ve had people left to die of syphilis, and others deprived of rights for thinking the wrong thoughts, or being born with the wrong skin.
ALL of them are prone to evil (or the people behind them are). Our problem is thinking “our” guy (whoever it is or was) is harmless, so let him have the power...
Exactly. Sue them until they bankrupt. Maybe, then they will stop these unconstitutional measures.
We need to demand a list of all cops who have been treated for mental issues.
My brother in law had a visit from Chicago PD and they confiscated his guns. They finally returned them after he got a lawyer. All completely disassembled and piled together in one big container.
I guess this answers the question about whether cops are willing to confiscate people’s guns.
I disagree. How does the clerk know the call was bona fide? One reason things are put into writing is to create accountability, another is to make sure that only well-reasoned orders are put into effect. The state police confiscated the firearms after getting a written approval from the judge, not based on a verbal "okay."
Now, the judge may be at fault if the judge is supposed to evaluate the facts behind the confiscate order, and decide if those facts satisfy the elements of the law that provide for confiscation. While judges are immune from suit, they are not immune to ridicule and opprobrium, and eventually, total loss of respect.
I’ve been following this story a few days. From all appearances, the Judge was lightning fast in relieving this fellow of his weapons, so let’s see how quick he is about redressing the wrong that’s been done.
Of course, I assume there’s paperwork, it should take more than a call. But they wrote and issued a Press Release, so somebody is handy with a word processor.
I think that quote may be bogus. I have noticed lately that the Left is planting powerful but bogus quotes on the web, often with fancy graphics. I think they are hoping these will be picked up and repeated by conservatives on various blogs. Then they blast the conservative for posting a bogus quote. It's happened to me a few times recently.
I just called the Clerk’s office and spoke to the person who was listed on the press release. He says the Judge has reinstated his permit but knows nothing of the weapons confiscated.
The biggest issue as most others have stated is the willful circumventing HIPPA laws. I couldn’t even get a copy of my records of a procedure at a hospital without signing a HIPPA release.
I hope his attorney is preparing the proper filings as we speak.
It's hard to tell with what the government is becoming, but I assume they are pretending that the initial report was in writing (I would assume that is a requirement, although perhaps not) and the correction was made by a phone call (paperwork to follow?) to expedite correcting the revolting act of trampling a free American's God-given rights . . . revolting to them because they discovered that the trampled American didn't just lie down and apologize.
Well stated. I agree that there are currently many people with R’s behind their name that are participating in the treachery in our government. After all, without their help (Olympia Snowe comes to mind), the Democrat’s wouldn’t have passed Obamacare!
Yeah. I think the clerk is trying cover the judge's error. Throwing blame to the State Police. There is nothing to say that both the police and the judge are out of bounds, and I would not be surprised in the least that the bigger liar here is the court.
I know that is a complete reversal of my earlier "don't blame the judge, he's just a rubber stamp." The reversal is based on the judge being responsible to find a basis in law for what the state police are requesting.
Everybody seems to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to get in front of where they perceive the public to be heading so they can declare themselves “leaders.”
IOW, par for the course with politicians.
And I understand what you were getting at about the Judge. A Judge has a reasonable expectation that Officers of the Court know what they are doing, and won’t punish the Judge by doing stupid things like making up cites. I think the State Police were hot to trot to demonstrate to the rubes they’re in charge, and this Judge is caught in the middle because he believed them. I notice they’re not being very specific about the mechanics of what exactly just happened, just “mistakes were made.”
I think there is wholesale violation of HIPAA going on here, and this story only scratches the surface.
3) those bastards are sued for invasion of privacy.
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