Posted on 10/22/2019 7:06:02 AM PDT by Brilliant
In a bustling Tampa courtroom, a lawyer is making the case for keeping guns out of the hands of a man named Anthony Ballard.
Judge Ron Ficarrotta flips through court paperwork and reads the alarming details: How a friend said Ballard, 30, showed him a violent and graphic video of a gunman shooting down patrons in a bank.
Ballard told his friend: “This will be me one day. I’m gonna be the greatest mass shooter. I’m gonna shoot the most people ever and be famous for it.”
The file recounts how deputies tracked Ballard down and how he begged them to shoot him. They took him into custody under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows someone who appears to be a danger to himself or others to be held and evaluated. As they did, Ballard talked about the massacre in March at two mosques in New Zealand. He referred to the shooter as “his people.”
In court, Marc Makholm, attorney for the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office, sums it up: “There’s no reason for this person to have a firearm.” The judge agrees, signing his name to an order that says Ballard must turn in any guns he owns and not have any others for a year.
Next case: A man accused of threatening to shoot up a Walmart near Tampa the day after a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso and killed 22 people.
Welcome to Florida’s Risk Protection Court, created last year to take guns from people judged too dangerous to have them.
Once, this would have seemed unlikely in the “Gunshine State,” known for lawmakers in lockstep with the National Rifle Association. But since Florida enacted its “red flag” law in March 2018, thousands of guns - handguns, shotguns, hunting rifles and the kind of semi-automatic weapons used in mass shootings across America - have been given up or taken by authorities.
The tipping point: Seventeen dead at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. The law was signed weeks later...
As much as I hate the idea of using red flag laws to disarm law abiding citizens, a man who goes around bragging to his friends about being the next world record holder in mass shooting, is NOT someone I want to see have a gun or access to guns.
The problem is that those are the people the gun control crowd will march out every time as evidence for a gun ban.
Completely agree. That’s some serious next level stupid.
Who is keeping track of the obvious abuse of this Redflag law?
Thousands of guns taken away. Are there that many monsters on the loose in Florida?
Exactly. A balanced report would have included a couple of cases where someone swore that a person they didn’t like made wild statements. The judge is always going to error on the side of taking the gun away. Nothing bad happens if he does...except the person loses his right to bear arms! /s
Who is keeping track of the obvious abuse of this Redflag law?
...
Shouldn’t the NRA and other gun rights groups be doing that?
Taking away the guns is a patch. This guy belongs in a nuthouse... where he probably wouldn’t be granted weapons access as a matter of policy.
The problem is that those are the people the gun control crowd will march out every time as evidence for a gun ban.
...
The other side is, if these red flag laws work, then other gun restrictions can be eliminated for the law abiding and sane.
I’ve seen several abuses reported in general, but I’m looking for data in each Redflag state.
This guy belongs in a nuthouse... where he probably wouldn’t be granted weapons access as a matter of policy.
...
True. The protection order has to be renewed every year.
Additionally if someones firearms are forcefully taken then they should be justly compensated for them at prevailing market prices.
Sue Carlton cannot be counted on to give a balanced report. She is as anti 2nd Amendment and anti conservative as they come. Keep these truths in mind as you read her writings.
It sounds like Floridah has THOUSANDS of loons living there. Currently transitioning from the “Gunshine State” to the “Loonshine State”. That’s good. Keep them all there and keep confiscating their guns. That’s fewer loons for the rest of us to have to worry about.
Does the NICS system get updated? We had a mass shooter here that was not suppose to get guns by court order but the court never updated the system. The same type of people that run the DMV are in charge!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_IHOP_shooting
“There’s no reason for this person to have a firearm.”
You don’t need a reason in this country...F head.
I am not one of them, fortunately. Some people quite simply should not have firearms. Or edged weapons. Or the freedom to walk around free.
This explains "Florida Man..." on twitter.
>>True. The protection order has to be renewed every year.
Yes, but shouldn’t the guy have been given the right to a trial by a jury of his peers? Presumably, making threats of violence is a crime for which these nutjobs COULD have been properly prosecuted while maintaining civil liberty protections. Star courts should not be tolerated.
Well this is just stupid.
This person shouldn't be walking free in society. It's not about the means (firearms), it's about his desire to kill.
He can do his evil deeds with a truck. Are these precient judges going to take away his drivers license? Oh, wait - he could still steal a vehicle and drive into a crowd even then.
Lamebrain gun haters have such narrow vision, thinking to take away his guns will alleviate the threat.
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