The law as written.

Have you ever been adjucated matally defective or have you been committed to a mental institution.

If this has not happened then they can legally own a gun.

This means a judge must legally say you are mentally defective in court.

This means you must be committed to a mental facility.

You may have voluntarily entered and exited a mental facility as many times as needed but never committed

David Hineline is right on the money.

I recently had an interesting conversation about the topic of being declared mentally incompetent.  I was speaking with a county social worker who is assigned to the case of a friend of mine who is disabled with a neurological disorder that has severely limited her mobility and degraded her cognitive function to the point where she really can't manage her own affairs.  I asked the social worker what it would take to have my friend declared incompetent and put under the care of a public administrator (her family is not able to care for her).

Her answer hit me like a lightning bolt:

Although my friend makes consistently bad decisions, is destroying the house her parents let her live in, relies on the charity of friends for food, and has run her finances into the ground she is still making her own decisions and is nowhere near legally incompetent.

We all make mistakes.  People who have psychiatric disorders or decreased mental function have the same civil rights as the rest of us.  At least here in the Occupied California Republic, getting someone declared legally incompetent is very, very difficult.  It requires testimony of at least one psychiatrist and multiple witnesses.

I wouldn't leave a gun anywhere near my friend because I consider her a suicide risk, but she does have the right to buy one.

Xanax, Paxil and a good Doctor will help with anxiety/panic disorder.  Had atrial fibrillation brought on due to stress, etc.  Good Dr., all better now.

While he might be in compliance with federal law there are also restrictions to firearms ownership by state firearms and mental health related laws.

To be declared incompetent or mentally ill will most likely be a different standard as it pertains to firearm possession in NYS.

I would check with a competent attorney who is familiar with the applicable firearms and mental health laws in NYS.