Jerry Heck’s Guest Editorial “Red flag laws are ripe for abuse” is so full of serious inaccuracies that it’s hard to know which one to begin with, but first it’s important for readers to understand exactly what a Red flag law does. A Red flag law creates a court process whereby a judge can order a person to surrender his or her firearms if the evidence shows that they are a serious threat to themselves or others. Red flag laws have been particularly effective in preventing suicides.
Mr. Heck’s repetition of the assertion that Red flag laws violate half of the amendments in the Bill of Rights is ludicrous. No responsible lawyer could ever argue that in good faith. Red flag laws have been around for twenty years and none of them have been held to violate the Constitution. Indeed, the Supreme Court made it crystal clear in the Heller decision that prohibitions on the possession of firearms by people living with mental illness are allowed by the Second Amendment and nothing in the recent Bruen decision changes that.
Mr. Heck’s claim that Red flag laws “will make one susceptible to law-fare attacks from a disgruntled former employee, spouse, neighbor, customer, political opponent or anyone with an ax to grind,” overlooks a critical point. Surrender of a firearm will only be ordered if the judge finds that the evidence supports it. Judges can refer people who lie in making the accusation for criminal prosecution. Judges can also refer lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits to the bar association for discipline. Thus it is not surprising that Mr. Heck offers no evidence whatsoever of any such abuse in the states that have adopted Red flag laws.
Mr. Heck’s argument that the number of murders in Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles proves that tough firearm regulations don’t work, overlooks their large populations. On a per capita basis, the highest murder rates are in states like Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi which have notoriously lax gun laws. And before relying on Texas Governor Abbott’s rhetoric, Mr. Heck might want to know that Texas has a higher murder rate than New York and California (but not Illinois).Rather than advancing such misguided invective, Mr. Heck should look at the objective facts. Studies have shown that in the states that have adopted Red flag laws lives are saved from gun violence. Are Red flag laws a panacea? Of course not. But in a state like Utah where eighty percent of gun deaths are suicides, keeping guns out of the hands of people living with mental illness when they are a serious threat to themselves (or others) makes simple common sense. A Red flag law would save lives in Utah just as it has in the states that have adopted it.