Gun applicants in New York will have to turn over Social Security accounts

As missed warning signs pile up in mass-murder investigations, New York state is rolling out a new strategy for vetting gun permit applicants. People who want to carry concealed handguns will have to submit their social media accounts for a “character and conduct” review.

It’s an approach welcomed by many Democrats and national gun control advocacy groups, but some experts have raised questions about how the law will be enforced and address free speech concerns.

Some of the local officials who will be tasked with reviewing social media content also question whether they will have the resources and, in some cases, whether the law is even constitutional.

Sheriffs have not received additional money or staff to handle a new application process, said Peter Kehoe, executive director of the New York Sheriffs Association. The law, he argued, violates Second Amendment rights, and although applicants must list their social media accounts, he doesn’t think local officials will necessarily look at them.

“I don’t think we would do that,” Kehoe said. “I think that would be a constitutional invasion of privacy.

The new requirement, which takes effect in September, was included in a law passed last week that sought to preserve some restrictions on firearms after the Supreme Court ruled that most people have the right to carry a gun for personal protection. It was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, who noted that shooters sometimes telegraph their intent to hurt others.

Increasingly, young men are taking to the Internet to hint at what’s to come before committing mass murder, including the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

By law, applicants must provide local officials with a list of current and former social media accounts from the previous three years. Local sheriff’s personnel, judges or state officials will need to scroll through these profiles while checking to see if applicants have made statements suggesting dangerous behavior.

The law would also require applicants to complete hours of safety training, prove they are proficient in shooting, provide four character references and appear for in-person interviews.

The law reflects the way the Supreme Court’s ruling shifted responsibility to states to vet those who carry firearms in public, said Tanya Shard, senior counsel and director of state and federal policy for the Brady gun control advocacy group.

Her group said it is not aware of any other states that require gun permit applicants to submit social media profiles.

However, the new approach comes amid a growing debate over the control of social media posts and the legacy of unjustified surveillance of black and brown communities.

“The question has to 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 University of Pennsylvania professor of social policy, communication and medicine Desmond Upton Patton, who also founded SAFElab, a research initiative studying violence involving youth of color.

Meanwhile, gun rights advocates are blasting the law.

“You’ll also need to tell them your social media accounts because New York wants to thoroughly investigate you to find out if you’re one of those dangerous law-abiding citizens who are taking the country by storm and making crime skyrocket,” says Jared Yannis, host of the YouTube channel Guns & Gadgets, in a widely viewed video about the new law. “What have we come to?”

Hochul, who has also tasked the state police with cracking down on extremism online, did not immediately respond to a list of questions about the social media requirement, including how the state would address free speech and privacy concerns.

“Often the problem is: How do we enforce it?” said Metro State University criminal justice professor James Densley, co-founder of the research initiative The Violence Project. “I think it starts to open up a little bit of a can of worms because nobody knows what the best way to do it is.”

It can be difficult, he said, to decode social media posts from younger people who might just be expressing themselves by posting a music video.

“When that becomes difficult is to what extent is this expression and to what extent is this evidence of wrongdoing?” Densley said.

Spokespeople for social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, 4Chan and Parler did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Instead, New York should consider giving the job to a trained group charged with figuring out how best to reach people online who show signs of radicalization or trauma and may need help, Patton said.

“There are a lot of nuances and contextual issues. We talk differently; how we communicate, that can be misunderstood,” Patton said. “I’m concerned that we don’t have the right people or the right tools to do this in a way that is helpful in actually preventing violence.”

Adam Scott Wand, a professor of public policy at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said he supports gun control but worries the New York law could set a precedent for mandatory disclosure of social media activity for people looking for other types of licenses from the state.

New York’s law is rushed and vague, said Wand, who trains law enforcement personnel how to search people through social media.

“I think what we could have done as a state here in New York is we may have confirmed their worst fears — that a slippery slope would be created that would slowly erode their rights to bear arms and allow bureaucracy to decide, based on vague criteria, who can have a gun and who can’t,” Wand said. “Which is exactly what the Supreme Court was trying to avoid.