"Red flag" laws are a bad idea, because they will be abused

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Tdarcos
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"Red flag" laws are a bad idea, because they will be abused

Post by Tdarcos »

"Red Flag" laws are hitting the news. This is where, if someone is believed to be likely to become violent; is believed to be a danger to themselves or others; or someone claims to have been a victim of violence by that person, the complaining witness can go before a court, and in an ex-parte proceeding, swear out a complaint for an order to "temporarily" remove any guns the subject has from their home.

Notice that the order is ex-parte meaning only one party appears in court; the subject is not told about the proceeding, and has no right to be notified about it. So, the order is granted, then, in the middle of the night, police serve a no-knock warrant by busting down their door, then demanding all firearms. What happens to the homeowner whose door is busted down, who might not even have done anything wrong, where do they get compensation for the door that was busted? If the person who filed the complaint has no money, they have to eat the cost.

Consider there is some person, say a member of the city counsel, or someone wanting to do something, but are thwarted by critics or opponents. How long do you think it will be before they realize they can discredit their opponent by getting somebody to file a complaint, saying the subject is mentally unstable, made a "terroristic threat," or committed assault on them, and has the marks to prove it, and believes he is dangerous, and swears out a complaint, so that there will be a police raid (covered by the media, of course) on the subject's home, busting down their door and demanding their guns, and if they find them, parade them out for the media to see?

Then, all that has to happen is, the police bust down his door, and in the darkness, hears an attacker, grabs his weapon, and shoots the invader. He'll be murdered for defending his home from armed home invaders. Or, the police bust in, see someone holding what they think is a weapon, then shoot them; then discover all the deceased had was something that looked like a weapon.

Or maybe they do announce "Police! Search warrant!" before and/or after busting down the door. Great! Now, all that home invaders have to do to not be shot when busting into a place is yell "Police! Search warrant" to get time to come in, disarm the homeowner, then beat up the homeowner and rape his wife, then rob them blind. And maybe worse.

We know exactly what kind of thing that has happened when police do a no-knock warrant. A householder, Kenneth Walker, was at home minding his own business, when he hears some persons breaking in. He grabs his gun, and, seeing plain-clothed home invaders coming in his place, shoots at them, wounding one. In the resulting firefight, the plain-clothes police shot him; he became paralyzed. His unarmed girlfriend, Breonna Taylor, was murdered by the police. Police claimed they announced themselves, but other witnesses said they did not. To add insult to injury, Walker was charged with assault and attempted murder of a police officer. It took a year before the charges were dismissed.. The police were there to searh for narcotics, but after the botched entry, did not search the aprtment.

Now, the thing is, an action like this reaquires “due process,” meaning the subject has to have a hearing on the matter. Now, if a man comes into court, the other person claims various things like domestic violence. You can guess who's going to be believed.

A real-life example. A man's estranged ex-wife went to the police and said that he had hit her. She swore out a complaint, and the police came over and took hi guns away. He goes to his attorney, and tells gum he wasn't even in town on the date she claimed it happened. The lawyer said that was good, berng the evidence with him for the hearing. When the hearing date arrived, his ex-wife never showed. So, to protect his win/loss score, the prosecutor asked the judge to withdraw the request rather than getting it, dismissed.

Now, he's hes due process, so that ends the matter, and he gets his guns back. Nope. The police didn't want to give them back, and only his lawyer making threats of litigation, to get them returned. Except his Mossberg shotgun, which police claimed they did not have. It took more threats to het compensation for it, but he never found out what was done with it. He could have sued his ex-wife, but she doesn't have any money.

Also, this false accusation cost him $2,500. So he went to the prosecutor, to ask when they were going to charge his ex-wife with perjury? He was told they don't prosecute those cases. So, anybody can make a false accusation, at least in that jurisddiction, with impunity, causing an innoent person to possibly suffer having their house broken into, a potential for serious injury or death, their home searched and their guns seized, and not even know if he's going to have to fight a false accusation, or show up for a show-cause hearing, plus attorney's fees – if they can afford one.

The incidences of “swatting,” where someone spoofs another's telephone number, then claim to 9-1-1 they're the owner of that number, and claiming they taken hostages, to provoke police respomse, and esentially having the power to potentially get someone injured or killed, essentially with impunity, are sufficiemt evidence that this is a power we do not want the police to have.
Alan Francis wrote a book containing everything men understand about women. It consisted of 100 blank pages.

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AArdvark
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Re: "Red flag" laws are a bad idea, because they will be abused

Post by AArdvark »

What can we do about it? Complaint is only as good as solution. Take the next step, tell us.

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: "Red flag" laws are a bad idea, because they will be abused

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

"Swatting should be outlawed," says nation's flies.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

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