What Are Red Flag Laws and Do They Help Curb Gun Violence?
Over the weekend, at least 31 people were killed in mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, just days after similar firearms in Gilroy, California, and Brownsville, Brooklyn.
In response, Congress and even the Republican-led Senate gained support for a recent bill aimed at gun control. The bill will help create federal funding for states to pass so-called “red flag” laws. But what are these laws and will they help end gun violence? Here’s everything you need to know about the importance of this particular measure and why Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is her biggest opponent.
What are the laws of the red flag?
In short, red flag laws allow individuals such as family members or law enforcement agencies to petition the courts to confiscate firearms from people who might harm themselves or others; these are commonly referred to as “emergency risk orders”.
At the state level, Washington, DC, as well as 17 states, including California, New York, and New Jersey, have passed red flag laws. (Prior to the February 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, only five states had such laws.) In 12 states and the District of Columbia, family members and law enforcement agencies allow petitions to go to court; other states, such as New York, also provide school administrators with the ability to file petitions.
Some states have also passed laws similar to the red flag laws, but their scope is limited; Connecticut has a Firearms Seizure Act that allows the police or state attorney to file a motion with a court to have a firearm from a high-risk group. Unlike red flag laws, households or family members cannot go to court to do the same. Red flag laws also differ from existing laws at both the state and federal levels, which confiscate firearms from persons convicted of domestic violence .
There are no red flag laws at the federal level.
How exactly do these laws work?
As the Giffords Law Center notes, in each state, orders are issued either ex parte (that is, without notifying the relevant defendant) or after notification and hearing. In most states that have passed red flag laws, the exact length of the final order varies. Typically, a person’s firearms can be confiscated for up to one year, and the order can be renewed after this period.
Are they effective in curbing gun violence?
The fact that most of these laws were very recent, coupled with a general lack of research into the use of firearms, makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of the current red flag laws or to quantify the number of deaths they have prevented. According to the New York Times , these laws have often been applied in circumstances other than those involving mass shootings.
“More often than not, weapons were taken from people who were viewed as a threat to themselves or their families, or who suffered from judgment-impairing illnesses such as dementia or alcoholism, rather than being a threat to large groups or community gatherings,” he said. … Times writes.
At the very least, firearms seizure laws – and effective firearms controls in general – can help prevent suicide; A 2018 study that looked at suicide rates in Indiana and Connecticut found that the suicide rate dropped after state-level firearms seizure laws. The red flag law will allow family members to file a petition in court to seize a firearm from someone in a suicide crisis .
In other countries, red flag laws do work, but as far as we know, they cannot deter gun violence as it refers to mass shootings. They just aren’t enough.
Why have no red flag laws been passed at the federal level?
Conservative politicians have long blocked attempts to enforce arms control measures in the House of Representatives. In February, the Democratic House of Representatives passed measures that include general background checks and a ban on assault weapons, but Senate Republicans and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to put the acts to a vote. (President Trump has also pledged to veto both laws.)
On Monday, and likely succumbing to pressure, Senate Judiciary Chairman and Republican Lindsay Graham nnounced that he had reached an agreement with Democratic Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal to appeal the red flag laws. While the Graham bill would not expand red flag laws across the country, it would allow federal funding for states to create red flag laws. This is still a conservative measure, but it will likely continue to gain traction in the Senate and among Republicans.
McConnell remains the biggest obstacle in his path so far; he has not yet expressed any position on the bill, but said in a statement Monday that Senate Republicans are “willing to do their part” to tackle the issue of gun violence – whatever that means.