A pair of Democrats is planning to introduce so-called “red flag” laws in the state of Texas with the aim of denying Second Amendment rights to as many state residents as possible.
As reported by Ammoland, the legislation by Rep. Joe Moody, and Sen. Jose Rodriguez, both from El Paso, would authorize state courts to issue an extreme risk protection order (ERPO), which then empowers police to remove all firearms from a gun owner after a judge determines that the person is a danger to themselves or to someone else.
Gun rights groups have problems with ERPOs because court proceedings are held in secret — without the gun owner present to defend himself or herself, which is not how our legal system was designed to work.
Also, as Ammoland reports:
The burden of proof in an ERPO hearing is very low. Any family member, roommate, or neighbor can go to the police to seek an order. Studies show that 98% of all warrants that police seek are approved by the courts.
Even more onerous is that it takes gun owners weeks or months, and up to $10,000 in many cases, to get their guns and gun rights back; they have to ‘prove’ to the court they are not a danger or threat in any way — again, anathema to how our system of justice was designed to work (innocent until proven guilty). Gun rights groups consider this process to be in direct violation of the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.
As for the bill by Moody and Rodriguez, it would actually go farther than simply having a family member report a gun owner whom they believe is a danger. Evidence of substance abuse or the recent acquisition of guns and/or ammunition would also be grounds for confiscation, Ammoland reported.
As usual, Democrats including Rodriguez are calling the legislation “sensible” — because that’s how the Left packages gun control bills. But it faces extreme hurdles in red Texas; Republicans control the legislature, and GOP Gov. Greg Abbott isn’t likely to sign it because he has said as much.
Democrats are always the ones who bring up new gun control restrictions
Still, Rodriguez isn’t giving up. He says it’s possible to pass his legislation in the future, ostensibly if or when Democrats control the levers of power again.
“On a bipartisan basis, I think the attention that we've had to recent shootings spurs public anger that at the Congress level, they’re not doing anything about common-sense gun violence prevention, and the same thing applies here in the state,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
“Joe and I are both longtime lawyers and we’re not interested in just willy-nilly taking people’s guns away,” he continued. “We’re more interested in just some sensible legislation.” (Related: As usual, Democrats are using the synagogue shootings to call for…gun control.)
That’s dishonest; Democrats loathe the Second Amendment, and if they could take away people’s guns “willy-nilly,” they would. In fact, if — on a national level — Democrats regain control over Congress long-term and appoint enough Leftist Supreme Court justices, the Second Amendment (as well as free speech for conservatives) would all but become meaningless.
How do we know this? Because red flag bills and similar gun control legislation always originate with Democrats.
John Harris, the executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association, thinks red flag laws could become the latest euphemism for “reasonable gun control,” a universal phrase gun grabbers everywhere use to stump for new restrictions on the purchase and/or ownership of firearms.
“The concept of ‘reasonable gun control is a dangerous argument advanced to trick conservatives into believing that its okay to impair and infringe the constitutional rights of an individual if doing so can be rationalized as something a ‘reasonable’ person would do,” Harris noted, NewsTarget reported.
“Of course, rights are not based on what some in society think is ‘reasonable.’ To the contrary, such rights pre-exist and take precedence over the Constitution,” he added.
Read more about protecting the Second Amendment at SecondAmendment.news.
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