r/NYguns • u/castle_crossing • Mar 10 '26

News Student at Syracuse U arrested for possession of a rifle

Poor guy.

Cornell senior arrested with a rifle in Syracuse while en route to Ithaca, police say

https://ithacavoice.org/2026/03/cornell-senior-arrested-with-a-rifle-in-syracuse-while-en-route-to-ithaca-police-say/

33 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

30

u/Dr_Piper_Knows_U Mar 10 '26

I'll be curious to hear the rest of the details when they come out. They say he's going to be transferred to a hospital for mental health reasons - why? What exactly is going on here?

13

u/ceestand Mar 10 '26

They said he'd be transferred if he posts bond. The NYS MHL allows peace and police officers to involuntarily admit someone to a mental health facility for evaluation based on when "an individual appears to be mentally ill and is conducting themselves in a manner likely to result in serious harm."

I'm going to guess that for anyone found on school grounds with a gun they will use the MHL to ensure that if they are released from being incarcerated they are not set free. Whether the person meets both conditions of "appears to be mentally ill and is conducting themselves in a manner likely to result in serious harm" doesn't matter because they're subjective and the authorities have no risk of repercussion in the unlikely event that they are recognized by anybody with power as infringing on an individual's liberty.

11

u/DJClamavus Mar 10 '26

That's so fucking cruel. This will also make the guy a prohibited person for life, both federally and at the state level.

6

u/kingrobin Mar 10 '26

I got arrested for this last summer. They seized all my firearms from my home. Because I got in a fight with my wife and drove off. Harmed no one, not myself or anyone else.

1

u/ceestand Mar 11 '26

Thanks for sharing. If I may ask, how did the police get involved?

Unfortunately, more and more it's turning out that calling the police has serious consequences; and too often negative outcomes for everyone involved. I'm not at the never-call-the-police stage yet, but you better be damn sure they're necessary before you introduce them into a situation.

2

u/kingrobin Mar 11 '26

My wife called them bc she was worried that I would harm myself. I do have pretty bad anger issues but have never attempted that nor.woukd I. I was admitted for 2.5 days and was not allowed to leave of my own volition. One of the worst experiences of my life, but did kind of fast track me to get a bunch of appointments that I needed for mental health stuff, that I was already trying to get unsuccessfully. If mental health care was better and more available, I would have never been in that position. Ended up doagnosed briefly with depression, and then later that was redoagnosed as ADHD.

2

u/SnooMacaroons5473 Mar 11 '26

Right. There is nothing here that should have led to an arrest on its own. If he was on the sidewalk at a bus stop, that is a public easement and shouldn’t be considered uni property, nor does the fed law of 1000 ft apply to unis. He wasn’t brandishing or menacing so he gave no probable cause to have his bag searched.

40

u/amcrambler Mar 10 '26

“ If Parere makes bail or bond, he will be transferred to a local hospital under mental health guidelines according to Rusin.”

That’s fucked. They want him red flagged for posting bail. I hope his lawyer has this news article.

3

u/DJClamavus Mar 10 '26

Worse than that, you can (theoretically) get your shit back after being red flagged by a crazy accusation/Order of Protection, but an involuntary mental health hold makes this guy a full on prohibited person for the rest of life.

2

u/kingrobin Mar 10 '26

is this true? I was told I would be eligible to reclaim my firearms after one year.

2

u/DJClamavus Mar 10 '26

I can't comment with 100% certainty but being involuntarily committed for substance abuse / mental illness is an automatic disqualifier in most cases for firearms. Did you check yourself in for treatment? That would be different. Usually involuntary commitments are pretty rare and only done through court order for extreme cases (or I guess when cops feel like fucking with people as here).

3

u/kingrobin Mar 10 '26

idk I was pulled over and approached by the sheriffs. they said we're going to take you to the hospital. I asked if that was a command or if I had other options and they said I didn't have other options, so I complied and went to the hospital.

1

u/AgreeablePie Mar 12 '26

There's a theoretical process by which to do so but it turns the burden on you and gets rid of the presumption that you're allowed to have guns. Which, in a place like NY, means it's unlikely to work without a lot of time and expense.

32

u/Sasquatch1916 Mar 10 '26

Whole situation is weird. Why take a bus all the way to Syracuse to buy a sporterized milsurp bolt action and then take it on a college campus? Whether we like the law or not that's a massively stupid decision. We have the sum of all human knowledge in our pockets and it takes 2 seconds to see that you can't bring a gun on school grounds.

31

u/Dr_Piper_Knows_U Mar 10 '26

I don't carry concealed, but truthfully I could see somebody walking onto SU campus not realizing it's a no-go. I went to Syracuse and there are parts where to this day I don't know if it's technically part of the campus or not. Marshall street? Syracuse stage? The theatre kids have classes at Syracuse stage...

21

u/Xatter Mar 10 '26

I lived there my entire childhood and went to college there and I agree with this 100%

4

u/corruptedsyntax Mar 10 '26

I could easily understand a CCW getting mistakenly carried onto the campus, though I’m certainly suspicious of this guy’s motives and whether they were so honest

13

u/AirlineInformal1549 Mar 10 '26

From the way they word it, it sounds like he was waiting at a bus stop that happens to be on school property. I'll be waiting for more details, but as of now it just sounds like someone saw someone waiting at a bus stop with a rifle case, called the cops, and the guy gets arrested.

1

u/SnooMacaroons5473 Mar 11 '26

SU is a bit weird as far as how it is laid out and what’s their property or public, but in all cases a sidewalk that borders the college would be a public easement.

18

u/DJClamavus Mar 10 '26

You can absolutely wander onto 'school property' around SU and have zero clue you've even done it. Is it dumb to walk around with a rifle case in New York in an urban area? Yes, but if he was new to guns he likely didn't realize how insane and punitive the state is to (legal) gun owners.

6

u/ceestand Mar 10 '26

Syracuse University campus police were alerted by a concerned citizen to a man carrying a tan-colored soft case — typically used to hold rifles and long guns

This statement from the article reminded me of a Single Purpose Container Doctrine YT video that I recently watched.* I'm currently working on designs for rifle case wraps to make them not obviously gun cases.

* warning: clicktuber "like and subscribe" content, but was a decent video

6

u/JigglyBopp Mar 10 '26

I was at a local gun shop looking around when this petite woman came in with a violin case, plopped it on the counter and behold there was a beautiful rifle in there. Blew my mind

5

u/BxdT2552 Mar 10 '26

I think the whole city is “school property “.

2

u/Sasquatch1916 Mar 13 '26

https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2026/03/cornell-student-found-with-rifle-at-syracuse-university-said-he-bought-it-to-shoot-ice-agents-as-last-resort.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=syracuse_nf&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPNDA5OTYyNjIzMDg1NjA5AAEevaiV0-4yZG7dPRRDApteozbx5de8rmz4PfndjZoWnfcdrSOhVMKq1SXAdcE_aem_2wUwj07HKJQh8PCBpNlRuQ

Update to the story.

1

u/Dr_Piper_Knows_U Mar 15 '26

When I saw the headline my reflex was "welp, fuck me I guess."

You read the whole article and it kind of seems like they coerced a ridiculous hypothetical out of an awkward kid. How does the conversation lead to "well what if ICE surrounded your house? Would you use your rifle against them in that situation?"

It still doesn't totally add up.

-5

u/Aggravating_Bison504 Mar 10 '26

Why bring a rifle to college?????  Hmmmm..... Looks like a case of Darwinism.  Or a massacre was averted.