Four Reasons for America to Oppose Red Flag Gun Confiscation Laws
Opinion by Dennis Petrocelli, MD
Ammoland.com
February 13, 2020
USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- If you listen to the pundits, red flag laws are intended to separate potentially dangerous people from their guns before they cause harm. In theory, how could anyone oppose the idea? Don’t you want to keep people safe? Think of the children!
The problems begin when these laws get written down. The seventeen law versions assorted states and the District of Columbia have are, in general, vague laws. After taking evidence, the judge has to decide whether or not the evidence presented makes the case that the person is likely to be dangerous with a firearm. How will the judge make that call? The laws don’t provide any guidance as to what actions comport with a likelihood of future violence. Although some cases might be straightforward, such as when someone makes a clear threat to cause harm (in which case, why not charge them criminally and lock them up rather than just their guns!), I suspect many more cases will be much more difficult to judge fairly.
Here’s the problem in a nutshell: mental health people, like myself, have struggled since the dawn of our profession to help courts determine whether or not someone is likely to cause harm. We even struggle with determining whether or not someone would commit a second violent act after receiving treatment following the first. It is simply not as easy as it sounds: people change, their life circumstances change, their condition – if they have one – wax and wane, etc. All of our methods of risk assessment have considerable limitations, they are not Magic 8 Balls!
Yes, red flag laws are unconstitutional. Yes, they violate one or another cornerstone of our justice system. But as the title of this post suggests, I have four very specific additional reasons to oppose red flag laws.
Elizabeth Warren
Joe Biden
Amy Klobuchar
Andrew Yang [update Yang has dropped out of the presidential race]
There are now four people who are ready to fill the vacuum of judgment created by red flag laws and poison the minds of judges across the country with lies about how dangerous weapons in general civilian use are, and how dangerous their owners could be.
Not one, not two, but four democratic candidates for president sounded off in the last few months about the most tyrannical, anti-gun-owner nonsense we’ve had to endure since Beto had his “hell yes” moment, and not a single one of them sad anything remotely rational. Here’s a sampling:
Yang: “We need to know who you are, what you’re doing, and why you have this arsenal.”
Klobuchar: “We can (enact gun control) without Congress. And then we can introduce sweeping legislation.” (Who is this we?!?!?)
The Rest…HERE
