Opinion by Amanda Suffecool
USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- Red flag laws – and my open letter to our elected representatives. This is what I sent to mine, feel free to add, subtract, modify, and send to yours.
As a gun owner and an active 2A advocate, let me start by stating that I am not in favor of red flag laws being invoked across the country.
But I am a realist. They are coming. Our elected officials are being driven into a position – some call it between a rock and a hard place – where they will be forced to do something, even if it’s wrong, even if it does nothing to solve the issue at hand.
The cries heard are ‘we are facing murders in waves across the country“, or ‘it’s getting worse, and we must take action.’ Data does not support the statement of mass killings/firearms death/crime increasing, but it does not matter. One death is one too many. Families are mourning; communities are in shock.
We all want to ‘fix it,’ what we are trying to get our heads around, and our legislation to stop, what we are trying to get agreement upon is… if we are forced legislatively to give up our guns, would these murders stop?
Gun owners, you and I track these attacks, and the ones that are also hate-filled and happen with knives, cars, and boarded up buildings to burn all that is inside (all current attacks in areas where guns are banned, restricted or unavailable as tools to a person where hate runs rampant).
I have respect for all that are searching, thinking, and asking- maybe in a different manner than I, but asking none the less, What can we do to stop the evil?
I am asking you to read this over, I have queried the best and the brightest in the 2A world for their opinions on what should be included in red flag – if we must have it. They are as follows.
Concerns include – due process or lack thereof. Using red flags as a manner of societal punishment or using the police force in a manner to ‘swat’ the gun owner.
If we must have red flag – please consider the following inclusions.
- Due process – invoke a time frame (12 hours or less) from the time of the accusation to being seen before a judge AND the same standard of law used to involuntarily commit a person who is a threat to themselves and the public as the standard.
- Storage – if you are taking personal property, storage in a manner that PRESERVES the condition of said property in the manner it was found in.
- Guarantee of return of property – in a (set time ) manner when the person is found to be exonerated.
- Invoke fines and penalties – to those who are found to make false claims. False claims can ruin someone’s life (look at the spate of rape accusations). AND an expectation of prosecution of those that use bogus claim for their own means and motives. AND add the ability to use the law to obtain punitive damages (civil and criminal penalties) against the accuser for false claims.
- If the person is found to be a threat – do not take the firearms (the tools) take the person. We have seen other tools used against the public by those who are a threat ( recently – the use of knives, acid, fire, and vehicles). It’s about the hate, the crime, the mental illness more than it’s about the tools.
Mental health officials can use “pink slip” involuntarily detain and evaluate a person who is believed to have the ideation, plan, intent, and means to harm himself/herself or someone else.
Our future is in your hands. Actions, for the sake of actions, generally help no one. Our trust is placed in you; please set the country’s future course and direction with thought for all that inhabit it. The Second Amendment is not negotiable and must be defended, and our hope is with you.
I have spent my life on Second Amendment issues, and will gladly offer myself and my contacts as resources should you have additional questions on this topic.
Sincerely
Amanda Suffecool
- Host – EyeOnTheTargetRadio
- Delegate – Ohio Representative of the Pro Firearms Education group DCProject.info
- Director – REALIZE firearms awareness coalition.