By law, candidates must provide local authorities with a list of current and former social media accounts from the previous three years. It will be up to local sheriff staff, judges or country clerks to scroll through these profiles when checking whether applicants have made statements suggesting dangerous behavior.
The law will also require applicants to complete hours of safety training, demonstrate proficiency in shooting, provide four character references, and sit down for in-person interviews.
The law reflects how the Supreme Court’s decision shifted the responsibility to states to control those who carry guns in public, said Tanya Schardt, senior attorney and director of state and federal policy for the organization. Defense of Brady Guns.
His group said it was not aware of any other states requiring firearms license applicants to submit social media profiles.
The new approach, however, comes amid a growing debate over the control of social media posts and a legacy of unwarranted surveillance of black and brown communities.
“The question should be, can we do this in an anti-racist way that doesn’t create another set of violence, which is the state violence that happens through surveillance?” said Desmond Upton Patton, professor of social policy, communication and medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who also founded SAFElab, a research initiative studying violence involving youth of color.
Meanwhile, gun rights advocates are blasting the law.
“You’re also going to have to tell them your social media accounts because New York wants to thoroughly investigate you to determine if you’re one of those dangerous law-abiding citizens who are taking the country by storm and causing crime to skyrocket. .,” says Jared Yanis, host of the Guns & Gadgets YouTube channel, in a widely viewed video about the new law. ” Where are we ? »
Hochul, who also tasked the state police with rooting out online extremism, did not immediately respond to a list of questions about the social media requirement, including how the state will handle issues. freedom of expression and confidentiality.
“Often the sticking point is: how do we enforce this?” James Densley, a criminal justice professor at Metro State University, co-founder of The Violence Project research initiative, said. “I think it’s starting to open a Pandora’s box a bit, because no one really knows what the best way to do this is.”
It can be difficult, he said, to decode social media posts from young people, who might just be expressing themselves by posting a music video.
“Where it’s going to get tricky is how much of it is expression and how much of it is evidence of wrongdoing?” said Densley.
Spokespersons for social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, 4Chan and Parler did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
New York should instead consider handing the job over to a trained group tasked with determining the best way to reach people online who show signs of radicalization or trauma and who might need help, Patton said.
“There are a lot of nuances and contextual issues. We speak differently; the way we communicate, it could be misunderstood,” Patton said. “I’m afraid we don’t have the right people or the right tools in place to do this in a way that’s helpful in actually preventing violence.”
Adam Scott Wandt, a professor of public policy at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said he supports gun control but fears the New York law could set a precedent for mandatory gun disclosure. social media activity for people looking for other types of licenses. of State.
New York’s law is rushed and vague, said Wandt, who teaches law enforcement how to search people through social media.
“I think what we could have done as a state here in New York is that we may have confirmed their worst fears — that a slippery slope will be created that will slowly reduce their rights to carry guns and allow a bureaucracy to decide, based on unclear criteria, who can have a gun and who can’t,” Wandt said. “That’s exactly what the Supreme Court was trying to avoid.”
