By Evan F. Nappen
Attorney at Law
USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- With deadly Red Flag laws popping off now in every state and GOP caving at the Federal level here are seven things you need to know to protect your property and rights in the face of the coming flood of red flag law misuses and abuses.
1) Privately photograph your firearms and record their make, model, type, caliber, serial number and condition, in case they “disappear” if seized by the Government. Store the information “off site.”
2) Have homeowner’s insurance and an umbrella policy. If a family member wrongfully uses a firearm, you may be sued for failing to “Red Flag” them.
3) Know your jurisdiction’s gun laws and make certain that you do not possess anything prohibited. This includes accessories such as prohibited magazines, bump stocks, etc. If these prohibited items are seized under Red Flag, you may also face criminal charges.
4) Have an attorney knowledgeable about guns and Red Flag laws ready to help you. You might want to consider getting a legal protection plan that may cover Red Flag seizures such as U.S. Law Shield. (See www.uslawshield.com )
5) Never physically resist a Red Flag raid. Gun owners have been shot and killed by the Government during Red Flag raids.
6) Ask for your attorney and do not make any statement until you first speak with your attorney. You have a 6th Amendment right to counsel – do not waive it.
7) Remember: Due Process now comes AFTER the Government takes your guns first.
About Evan Nappen:
Evan Nappen (www.EvanNappen.com) is a criminal defense attorney who has focused on New Jersey firearms and weapons law for several decades. He is the author of the New Jersey Gun Law Guide. Visit his website at www.EvanNappen.com
I am a LEO north of Detroit. The guys in my department, from the chief down, refuse to enforce anything “non-constitutional!!” Some of us LEO’s have got the publics back!!
Deprivation of Rights under color of law through the use of deadly force is a capital offense. (Penalty enhancer) And in my state, if any LEO criminally uses or threatens imminent bodily harm or death, you are within your rights to shoot back.
You may shoot back but you will still be dead. Do you think that a lone LEO is coming for your guns. Even if you survive do you have the money for a defense under Deprivation of Rights under color of law, of course chances are the liberal fill courts would never hear it anyway.
Some of us have prior experience & skills, and most of all an inside knowledge of LE/military TTP’s. Yeah one could get killed, but better to die on one’s feet than to live the rest of your life on your knees. And like you said, if the courts are filled with tyrants in black robes, you have nothing to lose… may as well take down as many of the SOB’s as you can. And if you have the aforementioned prior experience and an understanding of how they operate, you might even have a chance of surviving the engagement and they… Read more »
The most important thing is to have one or more firearms and their necessities stashed separately from your primary storage place.
RoyD, your advice is good even it the best of times. People who do not have alternate places for storage inside or outside their homes the option is unavailable. The objective of these laws is to legally deny people the right to accessing arms. When a citizen is legally degraded into the prohibited underclass they may never get out alive.
Unfortunately, this is the Information Age. Merely reading this website, let alone posting comments, is probably enough to flag us for eventual “reeducation.” Study what’s happening in China now for an idea of what is already being put in place here. I don’t think passive resistance will be a viable option in the near future.
ERPO/GVROs miss one very BIG point. If the person is too dangerous to have a gun, what about all their other potential weapons? Hammers, knives, bats, household chemicals, car/truck, etc.? So it’s OBVIOUS ERPO/GVROs are not anti-threat, they are anti-gun!
Red Flag insanity will stop when people actually start shooting back! Yeah, you could try going the legal eagle route and MAYBE you MIGHT get your guns back – and maybe you’ll be declared a prohibited person for LIFE without due process or any other constitutional protection, because Red Flags are pure tyranny! OUR FOUNDING FATHERS WOULD BE SHOOTING BY NOW. If gun owners take a lesson from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and use overwhelming violence against the gun gestapo every time they come for someone’s guns, they will stop coming for people’s guns!!! The system will grind to a halt and… Read more »
We can also turn the tables.
Start calling in on your libtard neighbors, local prog dimwit council members etc..
Over and over again. You have the right to remain anonymous with a red flag call.
Don’t stop; overwhelm the system. They may eventually realize these laws don’t work in their favor.
Mmm, I don’t think so. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and in my state, false reporting is criminally prosecuted. As Leftists are so toxic and unhinged, I have made sure that there are NONE in my life, not even the two libtarded members of my own family. So since I don’t have any lefties to report, it’s not an issue for me.
Besides, Red Flag laws are intended ONLY to be used on conservatives. That’s why the Left is pushing them so hard!!
If you want to win this fight, you’re going to have to learn how to win.
Trying to continue the compromise route will just erode your rights one more bit at a time. We will lose if we don’t fight dirty, dirtier than the communists.
Reporting a red flag to your local law enforcement can be done ANONYMOUSLY. That will be the law. We need to be prepared to turn the system upside down, expose it as a chaotic mess.
Recorded 911 lines are NOT anonymous.
They are if you use a disposable phone.
Ok, you go ahead and hack away at the branches, while the rest of us strike the root.
As the communist democrats continue their march to a communist America, the American people complain “Why doesn’t SOMEONE do something?”. Well, YOU are the “someone”. Because apathetic and lazy Americans were busy tapping on their phones, the communist democrats were busy forming new ways to urinate on the Constitution. Because lazy and cowardly Americans stay home instead of getting out and canvassing for freedom, the communists are winning. WHEN was the last time YOU went to a City Council meeting and reminded them “The spirit of resistance resides with the American People.”? Or, “Governments exist because the People created them… Read more »
I take time out of work and attend the rallies at my State house when they happen, four times last year. We are outnumbered where I live, but I still go.
In California, one of the first states to impose these restrictions, a judge can impose a temporary order for 21 days without any hearing (long enough for, say, an estranged spouse to use it to disarm their intended victim before the murder attempt). This law has been in place long enough for a disturbing trend to emerge. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the vast majority of these so called gun violence restraining orders are requested by police. In 2016-17, of 189 orders granted by the courts, only 12 were requested by family members. Some municipalities are much more aggressive… Read more »
Just wondering, not advocating, but maybe anonymous phone calls to report local liberals and Democrats as being a danger to themselves and the public (which would not be untrue) would be a proper response to all this bullshit legislation and have the cops show up and search and seize their property for a change. Like I said, just speculation, not advocating, as breaking the law by falsely accusing someone is illegal and I would never propose anything illegal (that’s a liberal/Democrat practice).
@ JPM Nothing is anonymous
Not only are we vulnerable to harm or death due to Red Flag Law raids, but also LEOs. They should recognize this and stand together against unconstitutional laws. Many of them are guys and gals just like us, veterans and gun enthusiasts, etc., and they should put the Constitution first and not their jobs. Stand against these power hungry politicians. They will use these laws to separate us from law enforcement, when really we are the same types of people.
Don’t discuss firearms with people you don’t trust, or have just met. Ever. Don’t threaten anyone, ever. Break up your collection of firearms, ammo, accessories, etc. and store them in several locations. If you happen to possess items that are illegal now, keep them well separated from legal firearms. Keep the firearms you can afford to lose in plain sight. If they come, they can take those. Forget photographing anything, or writing serial numbers down. If they take them, you ain’t getting them back, unless you have a very good lawyer and the funds to pay for said lawyer. The… Read more »
The beginning of Mr. Nappen’s article “deadly Red Flag laws” sums it ups. Deadly for the enforcers and the forced, currently more so for the forced. Both considered expendable by officials making the laws. The forced are unlimited, the enforcers are easily hired or forced. Enforcers and their officials are paid by funds of the forced. We the people, who are not officials, are funding our own demise. Both the legal defense and the challenging courts are funded by the accused. An expense most often exceeding the funds and future funds of the accused. The right to legal defense exist… Read more »
Red Flag laws will be challenged and probably declared unconstitutional. However, in the meantime we will have to deal with them coming to a state near you. If anything they will be abused, they will be selectively enforced (i.e. against minorities, older people (lock them up, get inheritance early) ex spouses, pissed-off girlfriends/co-workers, etc. Then they wont be enforced. Then something happens, mass shooting. Then the process starts all over again.
I have a question. With cops having a major problem with domestic abuse, Suicide and drug and alcohol use themselves, what if all the Cops Were RED FLAGGED?
I mean check out this video on how a police detective is above the law in Cleveland, Ohio. Two sets of laws are for real. Are they going to exempt from Red Flag Laws?
Well, all I can say is that when they break down my gates, all hell will break loose. I refuse to accomodate this socialist state government I reside in. This state wss one of the first to adopt red flag. It has since been ammended for worse. This erpo law violates too many of our Constitutional rights and We the People have allowed both state and federal govts to bloat for their own gains. I will not, I refuse to acede to these erroneous laws. I have broken no law. I am a legal gunowner. My one consolation here is… Read more »
It is time for gun owners to get serious about resisting. If every gun owner in the country would strike until these laws are overturned we could bring this economy to a standstill. If every gun owner in the country would change there withholding on there tax w 2 forms to ten dependents we could starve the govt. We need a leader like the NRA to call for these kinds of legal nonviolent resistance. We need to show that we are the people who control this country , we go to work and find this government and if we chose… Read more »
What wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing wrote this article?
Red Flag family members who misuse your guns? He wants us to turn in our FAMILY?!?
Never physically resist a Red Flag raid? So just give up our guns and our 2nd Amendment rights?
Yeah, I’m sure the Patriots of 1776 would agree! NOT!!
When the British came for their guns, THEY SHOT THEM!!
Number one thing you can do to protect yourself from Red Flag Laws is move to States without them. More States don’t have them than do. Any form of Gun Control is DOA in Solid Red states, move to one, simple.
Yeah, okay. So we who live behind enemy lines are to simply give up the fight and flee, huh? Disregard our jobs where we’ve been employed for 25 years…leave our churches, our communities, our families? I’m so tired of people like you spouting off the same mantra. Out of one side of your mouth, you say “just leave”, while out of the other you say “don’t move here if you’re from a blue state like California!” Tell you what…since much of the nonsense comes from states like California, New York, etc., why don’t you support your 2A brethren who choose… Read more »
You go Girl! Too bad there are no jobs outside your blue state high cost of living, high taxes shithole, right? Stay where you are if you don’t need your #2A, up to you Sugar. It takes all kinds to keep the Democrat run Sates running after all, who will pay all the welfare if you move out?
Rude, uncalled for, and glaringly ignorant. I have friends who tried moving away. They just had to relocate again to get away from the soothing sounds of the Muslim call to prayer coming from the triumphal mosque that opened down the block from them (after a long fight at city hall – all the Somalis imported by the Obama administration were enough to shove locals aside). You can’t move away from collectivism; it pursues you. Migration Jihad, part of the Left’s long term strategy. You might recall that California was once a Red state. It was the mass migration of… Read more »
@JD, I don’t think that was rude, uncalled for, or glaringly ignorant. Maybe you have condescending confused with light humor.
For those of us living it, the matter is as serious as a heart attack. If that was light humor, and I don’t think it was, it had all the tact of making light of a rape victim’s ordeal. For Californians, it’s especially touchy. When Jan Brewer an Joe Arpaio were under attack, I was there with the checkbook, even though I couldn’t afford it. If we don’t all hang together… you know the rest. For years, all California’s conservatives have gotten from the rest of the country is fruit and nut jokes, wishes that we fall into the sea,… Read more »
@Haz, You have to learn to get control of your own politicians, in your particular state, on your own. Us sending “… support [to our] … 2A brethren… ” will do no good.
Deep red states like Indiana have Red Flag laws too. And many can’t afford to move, and moreover it’s irrelevant. This is going nationwide, and there will be no safe places anymore. If you were referring to Commiefornia alone, I might agree because that particular state is LOST. But applying your thinking to the rest of the country is a RECIPE FOR FAILURE!!! Try getting some common sense.
No Gun Control legislation has passed the congress in over 20 years, and you think Red Flag Laws are ‘going nationwide’ , take your own advice Jack…
Don’t act all surprised when this happens. Trump is no friend of 2A and the GOP is stumbling over themselves trying not to appear “mean” and “cold-hearted” in the face of leftist accusations. They want to pass this!
@Gentlemen, The trick is to get Trump to propose something. Then the dems and rinos will be resolutely, immovably against it. It fails. Trump tweets blame dems. Dems hold the bag.
Apparently you missed the import bans and gun control that Trump signed into law with the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018.
@Stag, Got a link?