One day after the Parkland school massacre, a Cape Coral High School guidance counselor received an anonymous email with a student’s social media posts.

“He beat me to the punch,” the student wrote of the Parkland shooter.

Authorities say the teen admitted he’d written the posts and then shared a journal on his cell phone in which he claimed to be the reincarnation of one of the Columbine High School shooters in Colorado.

He hadn’t killed anyone yet, he told a Lee County sheriff’s deputy, in part because he didn’t have a gun. But, he wrote in his journal, he was saving money to buy one.

Weeks later, after Florida's Legislature created a new law to flag potential mass shooters, deputies petitioned the courts for a risk protection order for the teen.

Watch: Florida's red flag law explained Florida passed its red flag law in 2018 in the wake of the Parkland shooting, but many don't quite know what it is. Tim Walters, FLORIDA TODAY

Risk protection orders, part of the new red flag law, allow police and judges to strip gun rights from people who family members, co-workers, neighbors, teachers and others have identified as potentially dangerous.

In the last year and a half, Southwest Florida law enforcement has used the new law to take guns away from dozens of people who have been deemed potentially dangerous, including students who threatened to gun down classmates and people who threatened to kill family members, neighbors and co-workers, according to law enforcement narratives describing the cases.

But opponents of risk protection orders say they’re often redundant and aren’t making Florida any safer.

Judges approved 59 of the 66 risk protection order cases in Collier and Lee counties from March 2018 through October, or about 90 percent, a Naples Daily News and The News-Press analysis found. But in at least 12 cases – more than 1 in 6 – the subjects of the orders were already legally barred from buying or having guns. They included:

At least five minors under age 18

At least three convicted felons

At least four people who were subjects of restraining orders.

Many of the other cases were for people already on a path that could have led to them being stripped of their gun rights.

More than half of the 66 cases were for people who had been detained under the Baker Act, which allows people in crisis to be held for up to three days for a mental health evaluation. If they are still a danger after three days and then committed to a mental health facility, they lose their gun rights.

More: 8 in 10 Collier, Lee residents fighting to keep their guns under Florida’s red flag law had no lawyer to defend them

Law is redundant, opponents say

While acknowledging some redundancies, proponents say they support the risk protection order process even if it’s hard to quantify success or to prove that lives are being saved. At the very least, they say, it’s another tool to alert officers and potential gun sellers to a person who can’t legally possess or buy guns.

“I don’t think it’s made Florida less safe, let’s put it that way,” said Andy Pelosi, co-chair of the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.

Andy Pelosi, co-chair of the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence Andy Pelosi

Lt. Leslie Weidenhammer, who heads the Collier County Sheriff’s Office’s mental health bureau, couldn’t say if risk protection orders have saved lives locally. But none of the people with risk protection orders approved in Collier County have been re-arrested, she said, so “there’s potentially a correlation.”

Ultimately, she added, it’s not about guns. It’s about providing a “respite period” for people having difficulties – mentally, emotionally, socially – to take care of themselves.

Eric Friday, a lawyer with the gun-rights organization Florida Carry, doesn’t argue that people threatening mass shootings or having a mental breakdown should be armed. But he said there usually are other options to remove guns.

Pursuing risk protection orders against people who already don’t have gun rights, he said, is “highly redundant and abusive.”

Lt. Leslie Weidenhammer works in the mental health bureau of the Collier County Sheriff's Office. Photo was taken Nov. 14, 2018, at NAMI of Collier County in Naples. Alex Driehaus/Naples Daily News

Risk protection orders, he said, “are completely unnecessary, accomplish nothing and are a wholesale violation of civil rights."

The law, he added, “was created by the Legislature to make it look like they were doing something in the wake of Parkland."

Florida is one of 17 states that have enacted some form of red flag law allowing law enforcement officers to remove guns from potentially dangerous people, according to The Trace, a nonprofit news organization that reports on gun violence. Most of those laws were passed after the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County.

In the year and a half since Florida’s red flag law went into effect, judges granted 2,468 risk protection orders statewide through September, according to data from the Office of the State Courts Administrator. Of Florida's 67 counties, 52 have approved at least one order during that time. Polk and Pinellas counties led the way, with 383 and 380 risk protection orders granted, respectively.

The overall effectiveness of risk protection orders nationwide is still unclear, though a few early studies, such as from Duke University Law School and the University of California, Davis, have found evidence that risk protection orders can help prevent gun violence and suicides.

Watch: Red flag law allows citizens to speak up Florida's red flag law allows citizens to speak up if they think someone might be a threat of mass shooting. Tim Walters, FLORIDA TODAY

5 minors were subjects of red flag law

In Lee and Collier counties, minors were the largest group of people not legally allowed to have guns who were approved for risk protection orders.

Interactive graphic: View graphic about Florida's new red flag law

The Cape Coral High student was one of those five minors. Another was a 16-year-old South Fort Myers High School student who had a loaded Glock handgun in his backpack when he was arrested in April 2018. The freshman had a history of threats, intimidation and disruptive behavior, according to the risk protection petition filed in April 2018. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office declined to make anyone available for an interview for this article.

Fort Myers police pursued risk protection orders for two 17-year-olds: a Royal Palm Exceptional Center student who police accused of threatening to shoot staff and blow up her school, and a Success Academy student who police say posted an Instagram video threatening another student with a gun.

And in October, Fort Myers police pursued a risk protection order for a 16-year-old Fort Myers High student who had a hit list of people he intended to kill, according to a police petition.

Show caption Hide caption Miguel Fleming, left, a Cape Coral Police detective who is responsible for handling risk protection orders for his department, prepares for a hearing at the... Miguel Fleming, left, a Cape Coral Police detective who is responsible for handling risk protection orders for his department, prepares for a hearing at the Lee County courthouse in mid-November. A Naples Daily News and News-Press analysis of Southwest Florida's risk protection order cases found that about 80% of the people named in the orders don't have a lawyer to defend them in court. Andrew West/The USA Today Network, The News-Press

In Florida, minors can have loaded guns only for hunting and marksmanship competitions. State lawmakers banned minors under age 21 from buying any guns after the Parkland shooting.

Fort Myers Detective Charles Newell said in an email that he sought three risk protection orders for juveniles because two of the teens were soon to turn 18. At 18 they could legally possess a gun, even though they still couldn’t legally buy one.

In all three of the Fort Myers cases, the teens had an extensive history of mental illness or violence, Newell said.

Weidenhammer said she would pursue a risk protection order for a minor, as did Miguel Fleming, a Cape Coral Police detective who handles his department's risk protection orders.

“I realize they cannot go buy a gun,” Weidenhammer said. “However, it’s that documentation that we want. And also, if they would be in possession of a firearm, it’s potentially another charge.”

Copy text Copy this quote's text The quote has been copied Tweet Facebook LinkedIn Share this article on LinkedIn Reddit Share this article on Reddit Eric Friday, lawyer with Florida Carry In my experience, adding another felony count to someone already willing to commit a felony is meaningless. Quote icon

Violating a risk protection order is a third-degree felony.

Fleming said he wants to deter minors who “make a habit of arming themselves.” He said he regularly sees cases of teens stealing guns from unlocked cars and bragging about guns on social media.

“It’s one more felony charge they would catch if they end up getting caught in possession of that gun,” he said of the risk protection orders.

Friday disagrees.

“In my experience, adding another felony count to someone already willing to commit a felony is meaningless.”

3 felons had guns taken

Victor Rodriguez Cardenas was one of at least three convicted felons without the legal right to have a gun who were the subject of a risk protection order in Collier and Lee counties.

Rodriguez Cardenas had the muzzle of a rifle in his mouth when Collier County sheriff’s deputies arrived at his Golden Gate Estates home in June.

After a night of drinking and a confrontation with his wife, Rodriguez Cardenas, 48, was threatening to kill himself, deputies said.

Negotiators finally convinced Rodriguez Cardenas to come out of the home after a two-hour standoff, according to a jail booking report and an agency affidavit describing the situation.

Victor Rodriguez Cardenas Collier County Sheriff's Office

Deputies took Rodriguez Cardenas into custody and transported him to the David Lawrence Center for a mental health evaluation under the Baker Act. They criminally charged Rodriguez Cardenas with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and for shooting the gun inside his home. The charges are pending.

Then they petitioned the court for a risk protection order, which was approved.

“We’re going to make it more illegal to have a gun? That doesn’t make sense,” Friday said.

In another Collier County case, deputies were granted a risk protection order for a 22-year-old convicted felon who was at a local grocery store shouting that the government was trying to kill him and that two government agents were hiding in his closet. He had a gun in his pocket, according to the risk protection order petition.

Eric Friday, an attorney with the gun-rights organization Florida Carry Eric Friday

In May, Cape Coral police petitioned for a risk protection order for a 56-year-old convicted felon threatening to shoot himself in the head. He shot through a slider door instead, a police petition said.

Steven Griffin, an assistant Cape Coral city attorney, acknowledged there “might be” redundancies in some of their risk protection order cases. But he defended the practice of seeking risk protection orders for felons because the process is civil, not criminal.

“We don’t know the criminal process. We don’t understand what’s going on on the criminal side,” Griffin said after a risk protection hearing in November. “Our role is to make sure that under the risk protection statute they don’t have firearms.”

Fleming, the Cape Coral detective, said felons with convictions in other states aren’t always flagged in his agency’s computer system. A risk protection order, he said, is another tool to alert officers and potential gun sellers to a person who can’t legally possess or buy guns.

Guns seized by law enforcement from a person who was the subject of Florida’s new red flag law. Collier County Sheriff’s Office

4 people were under restraining orders

Collier and Lee authorities also have petitioned for risk protection orders for at least four people who already had restraining orders and aren’t allowed to have guns.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Naples Police Department in February with a risk protection order against Jerald Marshall Duncan, 43, who police said was stalking a woman who walked her dogs on his street, according to the petition. He also threatened “lights out” to his mother, police said.

Jerald Marshall Duncan Collier County Sheriff's Office

Police found Duncan with two guns he wasn’t supposed to have. Reports said Duncan was “delusional” during his encounter with police. He was arrested on several charges in connection with violating a restraining order, and pleaded no contest in May.

Duncan declined to comment when reached at his home.

Fleming said there is a benefit to pursuing a risk protection order against a person who already is the subject of a restraining order.

While most risk protection orders are granted for a year, restraining orders can be in place for shorter periods of time and can be easily rescinded.

In the case of a risk protection order, he and the subject “aren’t going to make up at some point” and have the order withdrawn, he said.

“If I have the criteria … and then the judge agrees with me and grants the order, that’s it, case closed for 12 months,” Fleming said. “And then I’ll reevaluate where that person is with their life 11 months down the road.”

Guns seized by law enforcement from a person who was the subject of Florida’s new red flag law. Collier County Sheriff’s Office

More than half were Baker Acted

Risk protection order opponents say there already is a better way to strip gun rights from people who are struggling with their mental health and are deemed a potential threat – commitment to a mental health institution.

State and federal laws prohibit anyone “adjudicated mentally defective” or committed to a mental institution from possessing or buying a gun.

More: Here's who lost gun rights in Collier, Lee counties under Florida's red flag law

But a public safety commission investigating the Parkland shooting found that rarely happens in Florida. Of the approximately 200,000 people examined after a Baker Act every year, less than 1% are involuntarily committed to a mental health facility after a three-day evaluation period, the commission found.

“Based on what I’ve looked into, those cases that actually go before a judge and where the judge actually grants it … are the very rare exception,” Fleming said.

In at least 35 of the risk protection cases in Collier and Lee counties, more than half, the subject of the risk protection order also was sent for a mental health evaluation under the state’s Baker Act, the Daily News and The News-Press analysis found.

The Baker Act allows police officers, judges and mental health professionals to involuntarily hold people undergoing a mental health crisis for up to three days in a treatment facility.

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If the subject is still a danger after the three days, he or she can be voluntarily committed to the treatment facility, or the facility leaders can petition the court to involuntarily commit the subject for a longer period, on an inpatient or outpatient basis.

If people aren’t supposed to be released from a Baker Act facility until they’re stable or a judge has approved or rejected an order for commitment, “what purpose does that (risk protection order) serve?” Friday asked.

Friday said the Baker Act is a better process for removing a dangerous person’s gun rights, because it provides the subject with professional mental health evaluations and a lawyer.

Weidenhammer, with the Collier sheriff’s office, disagrees that the Baker Act process is a better avenue for removing a dangerous person’s gun rights, “because it requires a doctor to do that.”

“The doctor was not at the scene of where the issue arose and may or may not know all of the weapons that were available to that individual,” she said.

Regardless of the process, it’s important to restrict guns for people who are suicidal, said Nancy Dauphinais, chief operating officer at the David Lawrence Center, which is Collier County’s Baker Act receiving facility. In more than half the cases reviewed by the Daily News and The News-Press – or at least 37 – the subject of the risk protection order either threatened or attempted suicide.

Moving forward

Rep. Mike Hill Pensacola News Journal

A year and a half after the Legislature approved the state’s red flag law as part of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act, at least one lawmaker is attempting to roll back many of the gun laws, including risk protection orders.

In August, Rep. Mike Hill, R-Pensacola, filed House Bill 6003 which would repeal several measures of the public safety act that he believes are unconstitutional.

Copy text Copy this quote's text The quote has been copied Tweet Facebook LinkedIn Share this article on LinkedIn Reddit Share this article on Reddit Andy Pelosi, co-chair of the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence Anytime we can take guns out of a volatile situation, I think you’re talking about saving lives. Quote icon

Fleming, the Cape Coral detective, said risk protection orders serve a purpose but are not a panacea. They help prevent unplanned violence by taking guns away from people who may use them in a “hot moment” and hurt someone, he said.

“We are safer,” he said. “However, (risk protection orders) can’t prevent every person who has made up their mind that they’re determined to hurt somebody, because there’s more than one way to hurt somebody, aside from the use of firearms.”

Pelosi, with the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, said his organization would like to see the risk protection order statutes broadened in Florida so family members, not just police officers, have the right to petition the court.

“Anytime we can take guns out of a volatile situation,” he said, “I think you’re talking about saving lives.”