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:
“This year will go down in history for the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future.”
Adolph Hitler (1935 Weapons Act of Nazi Germany)
I gather that the newest approach to undermining the 2nd amendment is to have a health “professional” do it. I have known two doctors who were rabidly anti-gun. I’m fairly certain that they’d be more than happy to do it for any list brought to them.
Good for him for not dropping it.
David Lewis was the "wrong person", not because they had the wrong name and address but because he didn't grovel and apologize. He is a real American who stood up for his rights, not a spineless pansy who would bow to the ruling class. Good for him - a new hero when our GOP leaders are showing just how much we need a hero.
"Whoopsie! Sorry about your Bill of Rights!"
Sue the bastards.
Civil Rights violation.
Decent Americans need to screen everyone they deal with in health care (actually in all aspects of our lives). (1) Do not go to anyone who does not claim to be pro-gun. (2) Do not trust the claims of those who say they are pro-gun.
NEVER make a statement that the most rabid anti-gun activist could use against you. Those with suicidal thoughts or other concerns need to deal with that problem anonymously or risk the depressing outcome of losing their recreation and their security.
Guilty until proven Innocent.
If a lawyer had not been hired and this story made public, they would have kept his guns.
that needs repeating:
“This year will go down in history for the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future.”
Adolph Hitler (1935 Weapons Act of Nazi Germany)
Didn’t see where they were giving him his permit and guns back.
“Look foolish”???
No. You look like jackbooted totalitarian thugs. Which is magnitudes worse in both deed and impacts/consequences.
I notice the article and Press Release are silent about whether he actually got the weapons back. AFAIK, his license is still suspended by the Judge.
4th Amendment - "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
5th Amendment - "...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
14th Amendment - "...nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
It may shock a lot of liberals, but statements by media celebrities on NPR, debate in Congress, or anonymous tips to police agencies are NOT due process.
Me neither. It’s not a win until 1) his guns are home and 2) the law that caused them to be taken is repealed.
And the dummies in NYC, Albany, Buffalo, and other blue parts of NY keep electing rats that will work to take more liberties away from all of us in NY.
As for all of them looking foolish, the clerk and the judge aren't any more than rubber stamps, anyway. If the police make a false claim, it's not the court's fault. It's certainly not the clerk's fault.
The clerk also gives some cover to the state police, by laying blame on the law. The police can say they thought they were following the law. This is not "mistaken identity" issue, this is an issue of imputing a mental health condition.
“I smell BS
If a lawyer had not been hired and this story made public, they would have kept his guns.”
I smell B.S., too. I posted on another thread that I think confiscation of guns using the mental health/psychotropic drug angle is their intention all along. There is a similar provision in the current Senate bill being debated. The NY State Police just began implementing TOO SOON, which brought unwelcome attention to the language in the proposed Federal legislation. The NY State Police were probably ordered to slip back underneath their rocks for a while until all legislation is in place at a federal level.
You will notice that the police statement didn’t say that they did the wrong thing. They just said that they did it to the wrong person.
I feel like I’m off my rocker for thinking this way, but I only use the past track record of our government to generate this hypothesis. These are some devious and evil people we are dealing with, here.
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