"New York schools first to have ‘red flag’ petition power on guns"

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New York schools first to have ‘red flag’ petition power on guns
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Schools across New York began the academic year with a new tool intended to prevent student suicides and violence: the ability to ask a court to remove a troubled person’s access to firearms.

About a third of U.S. states have so-called “red flag” laws, which allow courts to temporarily seize guns from people believed to be a danger to themselves or others, but New York is the first to empower schools to petition a court themselves for such an order, rather than go through local law enforcement.

In New York, school principals are now allowed to petition the court for an “extreme risk protection order” requiring the safe storage of firearms the youth might have access to, such as a parent’s gun. Supporters of the law say educators are uniquely suited to pick up on the kind of troubling behavior seen before school shootings, like the 2018 attack in Parkland, Florida, in which an expelled student killed 17 people at his former high school.
Next up: school raked over the coals for not red flagging a student after the fact. Easy to see where this is going.

Re: "New York schools first to have ‘red flag’ petition power on guns"

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With the law so new, though, New York schools are still crafting procedures or waiting on guidance to help them figure out when and how to take action if the need arises. Several school systems contacted by The Associated Press said they’re not yet sure what the law will look like in action.

Do they step in each time a student tells a guidance counselor he’s feeling depressed and suicidal? What about if a student overhears a classmate talking in the hall or sees post on social media about wanting to shoot up the school? And when should a school still turn to law enforcement, rather than try to handle a petition themselves?
Not clear if a school goes to their district and the district sends their lawyers to court to get the order. Schools are not law enforcement, even if a school district would have to take their concerns to the local DA, the DA looks at it from a legal standpoint before it goes to court. Haven't always seen great decision making from school districts, don't see this as an exception.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: "New York schools first to have ‘red flag’ petition power on guns"

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I wonder what is meant by "requiring the safe storage of firearms the youth might have access to, such as a parent’s gun."

I can just see it now: Police arrive at a home with a warrant to sieze the residents' firearms because the school is concerned that their child might mis-use them. Of course, said family and home will almost certainly be impoverished and non-white.

Apparently, school administrators are now heads of all their students' households.

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