For anyone who is interested, I have compiled a list of California’s so-called “Red Flag Statutes;” i.e. P.C. §§ 18100, et seq.—on the books since January 1, 2015 (as amended in 1/1/2019)—that deal with court petitions by “immediate family members” and/or law enforcement for “gun violence restraining orders” and the eventual confiscation of firearms from individuals who are a danger to themselves or to others. These relatively new statutes are in addition to the long-existing Welfare and Institutions Code sections dealing with the confiscation of firearms and other deadly weapons from mental patients, per W&I §§ 8102 and 8103, which I have had outlined for years in “Mental Patients and Weapons.” As for the Red Flag Statutes, if you look at them closely, you will notice the serious lack of any case law (except for one Attorney General opinion) on the use of these statutes. I read somewhere that this is because the Red Flag Statutes are seldom used. In discussions with others (who happen to be card-carrying NRA members and vehement Second Amendment rights advocates), I’m told that Red Flag statutes are a bad idea in that any attempt whatsoever to water down our right to keep and bear arms violates the Second Amendment (“slippery slope,” and all that). Others argue that Red Flag Statutes (along with more thorough background checks and restrictions on assault weapons) might help to curb the current and seemingly endless trend towards more and more mass (school, church, mall, theater, etc.) shootings. If you’re interested in these outlines (i.e., “Red Flag Statutes” and “Mental Patients and Weapons,” which I have conveniently combined into one, given their similarity in purpose), I will send it all to you via e-mail upon request. Oh, and if you’re wondering (or even care), I am one of those “card-carrying” NRA (life) members and a strong 3 advocate of the Second Amendment, believing that restricting the ownership, carrying, and use of firearms by honest responsible citizens does little or nothing to help take the guns out of the hands of crooks, gangsters and mass murderers. But I also happen to believe that there is room for compromise, making me a supporter of the vigorous use of the Red Flag Statutes as well as W&I §§ 8102 and 8103. That’s my position, and I’m sticking to it.
