Free Republic

Just hours after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law bills expanding background checks for firearm purchases and safe storage requirements, the Michigan House approved a series of bills to enact a so-called "red flag" law that would empower courts in the state to temporarily take away guns from those deemed dangerous. The vote comes after Senate Democrats last month passed similar legislation. All Democratic-backed bills in the state House passed on party-line votes after lawmakers adopted amendments Thursday to address due process concerns raised by law enforcement and modify the process for applying and appealing extreme risk protection orders issued...

The hideous laws designed to violate almost all parts of the Bill of Rights are finally being struck down as unconstitutional.The Supreme Court of the State of New York, the state's second highest court, recently ruled the state's so-called "red flag" law unconstitutional. These unconstitutional gun confiscation schemes go by different designations, but they are colloquially known as red flag laws. The gun-grabbing ghouls of the far left are creative in describing their operation.Anyone supportive of individual liberty and our commonsense civil rights has been horrified at how these authoritarian abominations violate almost all aspects of the Bill of Rights....

If you believe tweets from Michael Bloomberg’s The Trace and its employees, I am “one major factor” why the U.S. hasn’t passed stronger gun control laws and thus, they claim, responsible for mass shootings in the United States. These are becoming regular tweets after each mass public shooting. They are upset that I have quoted mass murderers on their decisions to target gun-free zones. Yet, statements such as, “Areas where CCW are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack” are common among mass murderers. That doesn’t make sense to gun control supporters. Immediately after this week’s shooting at...

Last week Congress passed a $1.7 trillion yearlong federal government spending bill – clearing its path to Biden’s desk. This legislation will give millions to the anti-gun movement. Helping Biden spread his legislation. Now we break down what that means for the second amendment headed into 2023. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is set to receive a massive 14.1% budget increase as they will receive nearly $2 billion. This money is what they are saying is necessary to run their day-to-day operations, though it will include $14 million to be used to modernize their illegal gun...

Everyone wants to stop dangerous people from getting guns. To some, the obvious solution lies in Red Flag laws, also called Extreme Risk Protection Orders, that enable easy confiscation. The expansion of entitlements bill before Congress already contains $2.5 billion in incentives for states to adopt these laws, but the House Judiciary Committee, of which one of the authors is a member, will vote on a federal bill on Wednesday. The votes will be along party lines, but it isn’t as if Democrats care about stopping violence and Republicans don’t. You would never know this from the media coverage, but...

The Justice Department crafted red flag legislation for states to consider and issued a host of proposed changes to the classification of certain guns through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.On Monday, the DOJ published "model legislation and detailed commentary" on "extreme risk protection orders," also known as red flag laws, which allow local law enforcement to seize guns from those deemed a threat to themselves or others prior to an appearance before a judge. It also drew attention to a possible ATF rule change that would alter the definition of a rifle-style pistol "when individuals use accessories...

Brandon Hole, the 19-year-old who the police say fatally shot eight people at a FedEx facility on Thursday night, legally purchased two semiautomatic rifles he used in the attack more than six months earlier, according to the chief of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. In March of 2020, the police had seized a shotgun from Mr. Hole after his mother raised concerns about his mental state, records show. But, Chief Randal Taylor said, the fact that Mr. Hole was legally able to make the more recent gun purchases indicates that, despite his mother’s warning and the police seizure of a...

Dan Crenshaw didn’t mention Trump tonight? He must be starting to sense what the future will look like. Good for him, but conservatives won’t forget how he abandoned principle to carry Trumpism’s water when it mattered. #PrinciplesFirst

SANTA FE – New Mexico lawmakers pushed weeks of tearful debate to a close late Thursday with passage of a red flag gun law – the final approval necessary to send the bill to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The state House passed the proposal 39-31 after about three hours of debate, putting New Mexico on track to become the 18th state in the nation with such a law. The legislation, Senate Bill 5, would allow for the court-ordered seizure of guns from individuals deemed an imminent danger to themselves or others. It would establish an Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order...

Nobody wants dangerous people to get guns. To some, the obvious solution is “red-flag” laws, which take away the guns of people deemed dangerous to themselves or others. Last week’s largely party-line vote in New Mexico’s Senate shows that these laws are more controversial than normally understood (“Senate passes ‘red-flag’ gun bill,” Feb. 8). But a better alternative already exists. This alternative is commonly known as Baker Act statutes (New Mexico’s is called “civil commitments”), and they have been around in all states, most since the early 1970s. They allow police, doctors and family members to have someone typically held...

SANTA FE – A slim majority of adults in New Mexico support a red flag law that would allow for the temporary removal of firearms from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others, according to a Journal Poll. The telephone survey found that 52% of adults support the law and 37% are opposed. The rest had mixed feelings, said it depends or wouldn’t say. The poll showed strikingly different support levels among men and women and by party affiliation. Support for the firearms proposal was 63% among women and 64% among Democrats. Just 41% of men and 30% of...

SANTA FE — Legislators tightened the scope of a proposed law Wednesday that would allow for the temporary seizure of firearms from New Mexicans deemed an imminent danger to themselves or others. Only law enforcement officers, not household or family members, would be allowed to petition the court for an extreme risk order under a version of the legislation introduced Wednesday. The amended proposal narrowly cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee late Wednesday on a 6-5 vote. Its next stop is the Senate floor — where supporters and opponents alike are preparing for an incredibly close vote. Lt. Gov. Howie Morales,...

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A perjury charge has been filed against Susan Holmes, the woman who recently tried to use Colorado’s new “red flag” law to have a Colorado State University officer’s weapons confiscated. Earlier this month, Holmes filed an extreme risk protection order against Cpl. Phillip Morris. It was denied. Morris shot and killed Holmes’ son in 2017. The district attorney found the shooting to be “clearly justified.” A petition for an extreme risk protection order requires the petitioner to have a connection to the respondent, such as being a blood relative, a marriage or domestic partner, or having...

Everyone wants to stop dangerous people from getting guns. To some the obvious solution is Red Flag laws, which take away the guns of people deemed dangerous to themselves or others. Wednesday’s straight party line vote in Virginia Senate shows that these laws are more controversial than normally understood.

Everyone wants to stop dangerous people from getting guns. To some the obvious solution is Red Flag laws, which take away the guns of people deemed dangerous to themselves or others. Wednesday’s straight party line vote in Virginia Senate shows that these laws are more controversial than normally understood.  But the reasons for these differences get little coverage in the media.  As the debate moves to the Virginia House of Delegates, it is important to understand they are so controversial is that there is a much better alternative already in place. This alternative is commonly known as Baker Act statutes (Virginia’s...

Virginia's state senate has passed a bill that would allow law enforcement officers to confiscate guns from or prevent the purchase of firearms by people deemed to be threats to themselves or others, just days after a massive gun rights rally swarmed the state capitol. The bill passed the chamber in a narrow 21-19 vote and will next move to the state Housem of Delegates. Jake Rubenstein, a spokesman for Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, told CNN the House would "deliver" on a demand from voters for gun control measures. "Virginians spoke loud and clear on Election Day demanding common...

LAS CRUCES – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is calling on state lawmakers to pass a red flag law during this legislative session, saying it would save lives in New Mexico. “This is a temporary removal of a firearm from an individual who poses an extreme risk or threat to themselves or others,” the governor told a news conference in Las Cruces at the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office. She was flanked by Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart, Rep. Daymon Ely, D-Corrales, and Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces. Under the proposed legislation, a law enforcement officer or family member could...

When you have to ask for a right, it ceases to be a right and becomes a privilege. And privileges, like freedom, can be taken away. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and it cannot, constitutionally, be taken away. So-called red flag laws are an attempt to do just that, demote the “right” of the people to bear arms to a mere privilege. Championed by left-wing politicos who would prefer we view the Bill of Rights, not as a sacrosanct guarantee of individual liberty, but...

Three women and two men are dead in a shooting in a condominium building on Chicago’s Northwest Side by a neighbor who was known to have “anger management issues,” police said. A woman who had been in critical condition after a gunman opened fire in two units of a Dunning condo building died Sunday from her injuries, bringing the death toll to five from the Saturday night shooting rampage, police said. Authorities said the man left his condo in the 6700 block of West Irving Park Road in the Dunning neighborhood, went to a neighbor’s home in the same building...

Police were warned that the gunman who killed seven people and wounded 25 in Texas last month was planning an attack eight years ago, according to newly revealed police reports. Seth Ator’s mother reported to cops in February 2011 that her son was refusing to take his mental health medication and had threatened to kill himself in a shootout with police, CNN reported. The worried mom shared a recording with cops, in which Ator declared “911 will bow down before me.” When officers in Amarillo, Texas, showed up to her home in 2011, they found what they interpreted as preparations...