Presumed Dangerous, No Guns

Presumed Dangerous, No Guns

On the surface, the present political answer to gun control seems simple and obvious: Simply take guns from dangerous people. The problem is that everyone could be deemed “dangerous.” ...
Steve Byas

The latest scheme to confiscate firearms from American citizens who have not been found guilty of any crime — or even charged with a crime — is popularly known as a “red flag” law. Red flag laws, which would take guns from people reported to authorities as being likely to shoot someone, are justified by recent mass shootings. Desperate to appear to “do something” about the sporadic, but tragic, mass shootings across America, politicians from the White House to Congress to state legislatures are considering some form of these benign-sounding red flag laws.

But red flag laws are not benign. They are a serious threat to every American’s right to keep and bear arms.

In California, a woman and her husband experienced the tyranny of a red flag law in their state. In an enlightening video produced by Reason.TV, which can be viewed on YouTube, the effect of an actual red flag law — California’s Armed Prohibited Persons System — demonstrates the danger to our Second Amendment rights. This law aims to confiscate guns from persons found in three groups: (1) those with a history of violence; (2) wanted criminals; and (3) anyone who the state believes has a severe mental illness. But as we shall see, the law’s effects go beyond that in practice.

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