Theyre not coming for your guns....

[Antknot]

We'll never know what Willis was talking about.

[stymiegreen]

Sounds like a great law.

Red-flag law in Maryland led to gun seizures from 148 people in first three months

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md ... 9be0ecdf6d

By Ovetta Wiggins

Maryland courts have seized guns from 148 people in the three months since the state enacted a law designed to take weapons from people who are danger to themselves or others.

Four of the gun owners posed “significant threats” to schools, an official told state lawmakers Tuesday.

Montgomery County Sheriff Darren M. Popkin (D), who has helped train police officers across the state about the “red-flag” law, said he could not provide details about the gun seizures — including those that could have led to school shootings — because of a confidentiality rule.

But, Popkin told the House Judiciary Committee, “these orders . . . are saving lives.”

Maryland is one of at least nine states, including California, Connecticut and Delaware, that allow a relative, spouse, legal guardian or roommate to seek a court order to keep a person from possessing a gun.


Dozens of other states in the past two years have considered red-flag bills, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The D.C. Council approved a similar law last month.

Between Oct. 1, when the law took effect, and Dec. 31, Maryland courts received more than 302 requests to take guns from a person in “crisis,” Popkin said. Just under half of those individuals were ordered to turn over their guns and barred from possessing or buying a gun for a year.

Officials did not give a total for the number of guns taken.

Popkin said the average of 100 petitions a month is higher than the rate in other states that have enacted similar legislation.

“Today’s briefing should be extremely encouraging to the people of Maryland that we have enacted . . . something that has proven itself to work, has proven itself to save lives and proven itself to be constitutionally sufficient . . . to begin to curb the epidemic we have with gun violence,” said Del. Geraldine Valentino-Smith (D-Prince George’s), the bill’s lead sponsor.

[QillerDaemon]

Even here in Florida, about as gun friendly a state as any could be, we don't have this sort of law yet guns can and have been "temporarily" confiscated under the same intents as that Maryland law. Happens a good deal when someone gets a domestic call on them, the cops often come searching for the armory. The problem is, the guns are often not returned in the same shape as they were taken. Guns jammed or broken, or somehow rendered unusable, and all the cops can say is "we don't know how that happened, and we're not responsible while it was in our custody." We had a case a while back about a gun used as a throw-down in a criminal case, and it was a confiscated gun from a domestic case. How it wound up there, cops can't (or won't) say.

We don't really have any clue why the law was applied in this fellow's case, and it might have been for a very legitimate concern. As a left-leaning but 2A-supporing person, I don't like the idea of anyone's weaponry being just taken without strict recording paperwork and proper care by the police. I also don't like the idea of cops pulling their guns out at every opportunity, when likely this could have been taken care of in a much less lethal form.

[AnalHamster]

When officers began to serve him the order, Willis became irate and grabbed his gun.

One of the officers tried to take the gun from Willis, but instead Willis fired the gun.

Gee, can't imagine why he'd have been red flagged. He sounds like such a responsible gun owner.

[Antknot]

This Red flag law will turn into a version of SWATing. And another method of turning the screws in a divorce.

[stymiegreen]

This Red flag law will turn into a version of SWATing. And another method of turning the screws in a divorce.

Between Oct. 1, when the law took effect, and Dec. 31, Maryland courts received more than 302 requests to take guns from a person in “crisis,” Popkin said. Just under half of those individuals were ordered to turn over their guns and barred from possessing or buying a gun for a year.

Less than half of the people reported were ordered to turn over their guns. So it seems if you're not a raving lunatic and talk with the Police they don't automatically take your guns. Sounds pretty reasonable.

[Antknot]

This Red flag law will turn into a version of SWATing. And another method of turning the screws in a divorce.

Between Oct. 1, when the law took effect, and Dec. 31, Maryland courts received more than 302 requests to take guns from a person in “crisis,” Popkin said. Just under half of those individuals were ordered to turn over their guns and barred from possessing or buying a gun for a year.

Less than half of the people reported were ordered to turn over their guns. So it seems if you're not a raving lunatic and talk with the Police they don't automatically take your guns. Sounds pretty reasonable.

It doesnt solve the problem of domestic violence, which this law is supposedly targeting. What about killy looking knives? Shouldnt they be confiscated too?

Stop with that British type of talk.

[stymiegreen]

This Red flag law will turn into a version of SWATing. And another method of turning the screws in a divorce.

Between Oct. 1, when the law took effect, and Dec. 31, Maryland courts received more than 302 requests to take guns from a person in “crisis,” Popkin said. Just under half of those individuals were ordered to turn over their guns and barred from possessing or buying a gun for a year.

Less than half of the people reported were ordered to turn over their guns. So it seems if you're not a raving lunatic and talk with the Police they don't automatically take your guns. Sounds pretty reasonable.

It doesnt solve the problem of domestic violence, which this law is supposedly targeting. What about killy looking knives? Shouldnt they be confiscated too?

It says the law is designed to take guns away from people that are a danger to themselves or others. What part of that is it you have a problem with? Any law can be abused by someone with nefarious intent so that in and of itself doesn't outweigh the need for law enforcement to be able to step in and take guns away from someone who is on the verge of harming themselves or other people. If the police were called to intervene where a crazy person had a knife then yes...they'd take those away from the crazy person too.