OPINION

Red flag laws enable a certain class of people to petition the government to seize the arms of an individual they believe to be dangerous.

Matthew Larosiere | Guest columnist

Matthew Larosiere is the director of legal policy for the Firearms Policy Coalition and a senior contributor to Young Voices.

George Walker IV, The Tennessean

Red flag laws go by many names. “Extreme risk protection orders,” “gun violence restraining orders” and so on. Despite making a big splash in mid-2019, these laws have existed in one form or another since 1999. They were a bad idea then and still are.

And the one pending in Tennessee’s Senate Judiciary Committee is among the worst.

Introduced in late January, SB 1807/HB 1873 is yet another in a series of laws designed to victimize normal people in the name of public safety. Generally speaking, red flag laws enable a certain class of people to petition the government to seize the arms of an individual they believe to be dangerous. These laws empower individuals to cause people who have not committed any crime to be deprived of their property and ability to defend themselves without due process of law.

Algernon D’Ammassa/Sun-News

A warped view of due process

Due process, a cornerstone of our constitutional system, is the reason the government must first give you notice, and an opportunity to present your case, before it takes your liberty or your property away. Most of these laws, though, reflect a warped view of due process espoused by President Donald Trump in 2018 when he quipped, “Take the guns first, go through due process second.”

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The problem here is the first word of due process: Legal process is due before the government takes someone’s life, liberty or property, not after.

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Exacerbating this concern is that most such laws, including SB 1807, encourage courts to immediately grant a red flag order ex parte, that is, without the subject even there. This means the subject is committing a serious crime by keeping their firearms, even if they had no idea about the order.

Laws do not improve access to mental health care

Submitted

Despite being conflated with mental health reform, red flag laws do not improve access to mental health care or address the important issues of untreated or under-treated mental illness. Indeed, SB 1807 may even deter those who might otherwise seek mental health treatment or counseling. Would an individual experiencing intrusive thoughts be more or less likely to share them with someone who might help if they thought it might strip their rights?

Red flag laws vary regarding who can bring a petition, but SB1807 is on the broad side. In addition to police, household and family members, SB 1807 enables anyone who’s ever had any romantic or sexual involvement with someone to petition the court, with virtually no risk of consequence for a spurious or fraudulent claim. This creates a huge problem, empowering begrudging ex-partners to use the state as an instrument of malice.

What’s worse is that these laws, especially SB1807, will disproportionately harm the poor. Members of disadvantaged communities are the most likely to be violently victimized and the most likely to be abused by our broken criminal justice system. Red flag laws don’t exist in a world separate from this reality. That means an individual who did nothing wrong — and has a real need for an effective means for self-defense — can have the relatively expensive firearm they depend upon for safety stripped from them, and they must bear the cost and complexity of trying to get it back.

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March political cartoons from the USA TODAY Network

Red flag laws aren’t a solution to anything. The Tennessee legislature should focus on improving the lives of Tennesseans by respecting their rights, not manufacturing a new class of victims.