Florida’s “Red Flag” Law Has Led To Massive Gun Confiscation Numbers

Hotair ^ | 02/17/2020 | Jazz Shaw

[goodtomato]

Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman will be speaking at the local Tea Party tomorrow night on this topic. Two of the persons “red flagged” found other means to kill themselves.

[Oatka]

use of the law is not consistent from county to county and there are serious questions remaining as to how fairly it’s being applied.
They seem to forget that The Constitution was written so that we did not have to depend upon the good will of those governing us.

These red flag hearings are not considered criminal proceedings so you aren’t entitled to a lawyer assigned by the court.
What is the bad effect of turning them into criminal proceedings? If there is none, our side should press for it so at least people can have representation.

[Skywise]

Oh it’s just a few thousand people getting screwed over by their government - not a big deal.

It’s not like that number isn’t exponentially growing as more people get used to the idea that guns iz bad and should be given only by permission of the government, right?

I mean - only 1000 people have the coronavirus.

[GreyHoundSailor]

At some point someone will give the ‘confiscators’ only the serialized stripped lower receiver to his AR - which is the only part currently considered to be a ‘firearm’ under federal law. The remaining pieces are merely parts.

[Wonder Warthog]

"You have to be pretty crazy to get our guns taken."

Uh, no. A vindictive spouse seeking grounds for divorce is all that is needed, "crazy" not necessary. And then there is "firearms doxxing". All such laws are abominations to liberty.

[gandalftb]

Generally agreed.
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The law is too recent to see if there is abuse.
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My point is that we need perspective. Just throwing out the number of applications is not informative without context.
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How many involve juveniles? How many involve child custody? How many are actually granted? Were psch. evaluations required? How many were temporary? How many involved DV arrests?
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I have seen abuse of court orders in family law cases where both sides are trying to co-opt the family court investigation.
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There absolutely needs to be very strong legal guidelines on applications arising out of family court.
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Any hunter going through a divorce with kids would be an absolute target right before hunting season with those kids that want to hunt also.

[Brilliant]

I respect your opinion, but 3500 guns is pretty much infinitesimal here in Florida. We’ve got 21.3 million people, and most folks who own guns own more than one. I’ve got 6 myself. It is true that these laws could be abused, but I don’t see any real evidence of that yet. I am concerned about these crazy people. I think they are a greater threat to my gun rights than red flag laws are. I don’t think gun rights are politically sustainable in the long run if we can’t get control over these mass shootings. Every time we have one, the screws tighten a little more. I would like to tighten the screws on the crazy people rather than on those of us who are not. It would be better if we could just lock up the crazy people, but that’s something that’s been tried, and was abandoned back in the 1960’s. I don’t see much likelihood that the asylums will return. So that means we’ve got to try a different approach.

As I said in my earlier post, the better question is whether these laws actually work. There is no point in having them if they don’t actually work.

[Chuckster]

Those in Florida should keep a few of their guns well hidden or buried in PVC pipe.

I think that if you have to hide your guns from the government it is already too late.

[metmom]

There’s a world of difference between the Parkland shooter who had been threatening to shoot the school up, and a neighbor with NO criminal history who gets a call from a disgruntled neighbor or relative who just hates guns?

And I wonder just how many of the calls are from the same people who are just out to make trouble for gun holders?

I know some people who absolutely hate guns and don’t think anyone should have any and I could see someone like that even going to the lengths of going through a phone book and picking names at random.

[Wonder Warthog]

The actual death toll from “mass shootings” is even more infinitesimal that the guns seized in Florida. Their “impact” is solely due to the media blowing them totally out of proportion. They are great propaganda, though.

Red flag laws will not and do not work, and any such law passed should have a five-year “sunset clause” with an effectiveness requirement measurement mandated.

Also, any “red flag” confiscation MUST become a formal judicial proceeding, WITH lawyers, and a jury trial option.

[Brilliant]

The death toll may be small, but those shootings are what’s driving the current gun control push. We’ve got to find some way of stopping those shootings short of a full fledged ban on guns. We can’t just sit around and hope they will end by themselves. I think there was a time when a lot of us thought they might, but that time is passed. We need to be more pro-active.

Let me just say that opening the jail cells, as we recently did, and letting the convicts go home early isn’t going to help.

[Manly Warrior]

So, if Joe killed Marsha with his hands, and then od’d, would that make any difference?

[Wonder Warthog]

"We’ve got to find some way of stopping those shootings short of a full fledged ban on guns. We can’t just sit around and hope they will end by themselves. I think there was a time when a lot of us thought they might, but that time is passed. We need to be more pro-active.

Never happen...totally impossible. "Pro-activity" is useless. Even a total ban on guns won't fix things, because there are plenty of other ways for nutcases to cause mass deaths. Note that those have already happened...they just got virtually no "traction" in the news relative to the shootings (by design of the left).

If you've got a fix, trot it out. I've never seen one.

[Brilliant]

Well one thing I’ve suggested is banning the reporting.... because most of these attacks are copycats or by media whores.

There are ways to reduce the number. We’ve just got to figure them out. Otherwise, we’re going to lose our rights.

[Wonder Warthog]

Can’t “ban the reporting”....First Amendment (even the “shouting fire in a theater” argument won’t work with the media). Like I said....impossible.

As I said, if you know of ANY way to “reduce the number”....trot it out. Otherwise your “argument” fails totally. “We’ve got to figure them out” is empty air.

[Brilliant]

The first amendment seems to be facing a lot of pushback lately too. As long as they are regulating speech on the Internet I think you might be surprised what they’d do to the reporting on these incidents if there was public pressure to do so. In any event I am happy to try. Pit one constitutional amendment against the other and you might at least get the media to stop reporting this stuff of their own volition to save their own asses.

[Leep]

What’s next.. works of art from private citizens?
Confiscate their gold and silver?

[trebb]

I’m unfamiliar with the process - does the person get a trial if he/she wants or do they just get yanked in and told the weapons are being seized with a judge there to bang a gavel?

How much do you know about the process - a lot I would hope if you’re defending it.