Majority Of Republicans, Independents Fear Abuse of ‘Red Flag’ Laws
Image Credit: M&R Glasgow / CC
The Center Square [By Casey Harper] –
The majority of Republican and Independent voters think “red flag” gun laws that allow judges to confiscate individuals’ firearms can be abused for political reasons, according to a new poll.
Convention of States Action, along with the Trafalgar Group, released polling data Wednesday that shows that 72.2% of Republicans and 52.3% of Independents “believe that ‘red flag’ gun control laws that are designed to temporarily take guns away from individuals have the potential to be abused by local authorities and government officials to disarm their political opponents and/or citizens who disagree with them.”
Only 16.4% of Democrats agreed. Overall, 46.7% of all surveyed said there was potential for abuse while 30.8% said there was no potential for abuse of the laws.
“Americans want real, workable solutions to the mass shootings we are seeing in this nation, but it’s obvious that they don’t see the proposed ‘red flag’ laws as the answer,” said Mark Meckler, president of Convention of States Action. “More and more Americans are coming to the conclusion that the government abuses any power it’s given, and they are responding accordingly.”
***Click HERE to support Conservative Journalism in Tennessee. We can’t bring you articles like this without your support!***
The poll is timely since the U.S. Senate voted late Tuesday to advance a round of gun control measures that included support from 14 Republicans.
The bill included mental health and safety funding, but most attention has gone to gun control restrictions that Democrats have reupped their support for since the tragic shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.
Notably, the senators agreed to provide funding for states to implement red flag laws under another name, calling them “crisis intervention” orders, which allow judges to intervene to “ensure deadly weapons are kept out of the hands of individuals whom a court has determined to be a significant danger to themselves or others.”
“Today, we finalized bipartisan, commonsense legislation to protect America’s children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country,” the leaders of the negotiations, Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C. said in a joint statement. “Our legislation will save lives and will not infringe on any law-abiding American’s Second Amendment rights. We look forward to earning broad, bipartisan support and passing our commonsense legislation into law.”
The House passed a round of its own gun control measures earlier this month, including red flag provisions in the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act. How many of those House provisions will make it into the final legislation agreed upon by both chambers remains to be seen.
Critics have made the argument laid out in the poll, saying that activists or rogue individuals could inappropriately report others for a variety of personal or political reasons, having their guns confiscated and leaving the gun owner to navigate a difficult, bureaucratic process to have their firearms returned.
“I oppose the Senate gun control bill released today because I oppose all efforts to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of my constituents with ‘red flag’ gun confiscation,” U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., wrote on Twitter. “The leftists pushing gun confiscation policies have created a crime wave with their ‘woke’ soft-on-crime and open southern border policies. If they cared about public safety, they would secure the border and these leftist DAs would prosecute criminals instead of releasing them.”
The poll surveyed more than 1,000 likely 2022 voters June 16th through June 19th.
About the Author: Casey Harper, The Center Square D.C. Bureau Reporter – charper@centersquare.com ~ Harper is a Senior Reporter for the Washington, D.C. Bureau. He previously worked for The Daily Caller, The Hill, and Sinclair Broadcast Group. A graduate of Hillsdale College, Casey’s work has also appeared in Fox News, Fox Business, and USA Today.
Tn. should not even entertain this bill. But what will happen this money grubbing govenor will pass it here because he cares NOT for the people of his state. He cares for MONEY ONLY!!!!
So now “Judge Dredd” comes kicking down your door, guns drawn and screams, “your weapons are being confiscated under “Red Flag” law which means you may have been thinking about committing a crime. This reeks of the same unconstitutional laws allowing “Civil Forfeiture” Carry a dime more than authorities think you should have and, “Boom”, they take it without benefit of legal reason other than they can. Just try getting the money or your weapons back, it ain’t happening.
Everybody had better fear this and fight it all the way to the Supreme court. This is abuse waiting to happen!!
Give an inch and they’ll take a mile. Remember what happened to smokers? I’d like to start red flagging the dems. Start with Maxine Waters! Red flag database coming to your neighborhood and everyone will be on it.