PENNSYLVANIA, USA — It’s a major part of the bipartisan gun control bill signed into law by President Biden last month—incentives for states to pass “red flag laws.”
These laws, which allow a judge to confiscate firearms from individuals who threaten violence to themselves or others, have been implemented in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
"It’s shown in all these states they save lives, said Carol Lastowka, southeast coordinator for CeaseFirePA. "They save lives for suicide prevention as well as prevention of mass shootings.”
CeaseFirePA, Pennsylvania’s gun violence prevention advocacy organization, is calling for lawmakers in the Commonwealth to pass similar legislation.
Meanwhile, groups like Gun Owners of America, a national Second Amendment rights organization, oppose them.
“So we believe red flag laws are a violation of our Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights," said Val Finnell, the Pennsylvania director for Gun Owners of America.
Finnell argues these laws are ineffective, citing recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Highland Park, Illinois, which happened in two states where red flag laws already exist.
“New York’s response was ‘pass more laws,'" said Finnell. "They already had red flag laws, they already had universal background checks and neither one of those stopped the person from killing someone.”
Lastowka recognizes implementing red flag laws is not a foolproof solution.
“It’s not going to work in every situation and a law is only as good as its enforcement and the education around it," she explained.
But she believes it’s a way to implement gun control while still protecting Americans’ rights.
“You do need to provide proof and you need to go before a judge and I think it’s a really great safeguard that protects the constitutional right given by the Second Amendment," said Lastowka.
Finnell says that’s not the case.
“There’s no due process in these red flag gun confiscation orders and that’s the real problem with them," he said.
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