Court Allows Couple to Sue Nassau County Over Gun License Suspension Linked to Daughter's Hospitalization
A federal magistrate ruled that a Nassau County couple can pursue damages after their pistol licenses were suspended because their college-age daughter was hospitalized for mental-health treatment.
In Ganz v. Nassau County, Magistrate Judge James Wicks concluded that Nassau County officials improperly suspended the pistol licenses of a married couple after their daughter, a SUNY Old Westbury student, was hospitalized for mental-health reasons and allegedly drew disturbing pictures. Investigators from the Nassau County Police Department’s Pistol License Section, led by Cafarella and supervised by Sgt. Russell, halted the licenses citing a "volatile mental situation" and the couple's failure to submit a psychologist’s letter, despite confirming the weapons were locked in biometric safes and the couple posed no public-safety threat.
The plaintiffs surrendered their firearms to dealer Dark Storm Industries and were barred from possession until the licenses were reinstated in November 2025. The court found the county's case-by-case approach lacked any historical analogue and thus breached the Second Amendment, allowing the plaintiffs’ damages suit to move forward. Attorney Amy L. Bellantoni represents the Ganzes. The decision echoes a similar ruling in Wysocki v. Nassau County, emphasizing the need for clear legal standards in firearm-license suspensions.
Why it matters
It clarifies limits on government power to suspend gun licenses based on a household member's mental health, impacting Second Amendment rights.
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