Fayetteville, AR – -(AmmoLand.com)- Red flag laws, laws that allow the removal of guns from persons who have been declared by a court to be a danger to self or others, are the latest in the efforts of gun control advocates to reduce the number of firearms in private hands. The NRA has expressed some approval, depending on the exact nature of the laws, drawing the ire of gun rights supporters.
But hold on a minute you say. The calls for these laws have been a response to the fact that the Parkland shooter gave multiple signs that he was building up to a big crime, and he was not the only mass shooter to do that. The problem, of course, is that we do not have a Department of Pre-crimes—this bit of science fiction is unlikely to become a reality any time soon, and the idea of punishing people before they commit crimes is difficult to square with a free society in any case.
Difficult, but not impossible, however. After all, we have a court system that exists to address the more intractable conflicts, and in principle, they provide a fair resolution. But the caveat here is that the process itself must be balanced.
The concern here is that the system could be [or will be] abused. A false accusation can be the civil tort of defamation, or it can be a crime, depending on the context. In some divorce cases, they’re standard procedure. If, by contrast, anyone making a bogus charge of terroristic acts—called swatting, since the SWAT team may be sent to the scene—has committed a felony. Incidents of this are on the rise in New Jersey, for example, and a call to the Wichita, Kansas police claiming that a hostage situation was in progress resulted in an innocent person being killed. Cases like this illustrate the fact that gun owners are not paranoid to ask for details about proposed red flag laws.
What is going on here is typical of the proposals of gun control advocates, a scheme that sounds good to the uninitiated and that asks us to sign a blank check. I agree with them that if someone is making threats of violence or is abusing a domestic partner or similar, that person should not have guns, but I don’t go along with efforts to make the denial of gun rights a simple matter of filing a report with the police. Due process is as valuable a right as gun ownership or carry.
An acceptable red flag law would emphasize the presumption of innocence. The history of civil forfeiture cases reminds us that the government has taken property away from people who were doing nothing wrong and who are never convicted of any crime, and they often spend years trying to get that property back with the burden of proof being on them, not on the government. And false accusations should be treated as an attempt to deny a person’s civil rights and prosecuted.
But the goal of many gun control advocates is not to promote safety. It is instead an effort to remove as many guns from private hands as possible. This leaves reasonable people having to work things out for ourselves.
About Greg Camp
Greg Camp has taught English composition and literature since 1998 and is the author of six books, including a western, The Willing Spirit, and Each One, Teach One, with Ranjit Singh on gun politics in America. His books can be found on Amazon. He tweets @gregcampnc.
Unconstitutional Red Flag Laws White House Petition
I just started a petition on the White House petitions site, We the People. Will you sign it? Please share the links.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/unconstitutional-red-flag-laws
If the above link is blocked or errors outs go to the below You Tube video below for the link.
Unconstitutional Red Flag Laws White House Petition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CoGuD1pBZY
Since I like wolves, I must remark that this sinister Red Flag travesty is a prime example of “beware of jackals in sheeps’ clothing”. The maniacal, wild-eyed Leftists behind this are determined to “divide and conquer” by taking down gun owners a few at a time using unethical, unscrupulous police and Sheriff resources along with politicized courts. BEWARE!
The problem is that they make this all Political( the Democrat party anti gun position) the courts and DA offices full of anti gunners. Under the Democrats idea of due process is done via SWAT teams breaking your door down at 5 AM. We have a new Gov and AG in Wisconsin and one of the first things they want to do is enact Red Flag Laws. Democrats are now the party of Anti gun laws no matter what how bad they are or unconstitutional they are.
(Paraphrasing Slick Willie, with nods to the “Ragin’ Cajun”) “It’s the due process, stupid.”
@ Wild Bill/ tom cat; The cowering scumbag TGMB has slithered out to show what a coward he is again!!!!!!!!!!
Didn’t Ben Franklin once say something like: Those who would give up their freedom for a little security with have neither? On this parkland thing, there was ample opportunity to prevent and or stop it. So who is actually at fault? The shooter, the cops, the F.B.I., the school board and finally the “security guards”. Murder, accomplice to murder, incompetence, negligent manslaughter all come to mind as applicable charges for the above people. Instead, government comes up with overly vague new laws that effectively strip innocent people of their GOD given and constitutionally guaranteed rights without the slightest due process.… Read more »
I wonder what would happen if a Red Flag was called on someone who did not have firearms. Further curious of what would happen if someone Red Flagged a non gun owner falsely claiming the person has hidden guns.
There are NO acceptable red flag laws! There are already laws on the books to do what the red flag laws say they will do, except the red flag laws are easier to abuse. Time to wake up and smell the bull manure.
What am I missing? Initially, the problem was that proposed “red-flag” laws circumvented due process entirely, allowing police to wantonly confiscate firearms on-location. The onus/responsibility to reclaim the weapons would then require expensive legal efforts in a court, at a later time, by the victimized citizen. THAT is what made the proposals so horrible. Suddenly (and I cannot ascertain where this came from, exactly), the proposed “red-flag” laws are now being described – in articles like this one – as gun confiscation in instances where a citizen has already been “declared by a court to be dangerous.” Does this mean… Read more »
To build on what other posters have said, “Red Flag Laws” are a violation of the 6th Amendment wherein “… the accused shall enjoy the right to … to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.” Also the 2nd Amendment, “… the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”, the 5th Amendment, “… nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public… Read more »