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Uvalde shooting renews pressure for 'red flag' laws, 4 years after Republicans blocked a

2022-05-29T18:37:49.249Z


Experts say the measures, which allow police or family members to seek court orders to remove weapons from people who may pose a threat, are effective.


By Tyler KingkadeNBC

News

After 10 people were shot to death at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, in 2018, Governor Greg Abbott asked the Legislature to consider creating a

red flag

law , a measure that would allow authorities to seize weapons of people considered a risk to themselves or others.

But the Republican-controlled Legislature objected.

Gun lobbyists argued that Texas did not need such a law, and argued that it could be abused.

After Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced that he and most Texas senators did not support the policy, Abbott distanced himself from the idea in a tweet.

The Texas House of Representatives failed to vote on it.

[They thought that the attacker was entrenched alone but there were children: the "serious mistake" that the Texas police recognized]

The failure of the measure is drawing renewed scrutiny after the shooting at the Uvalde school this week, which left 19 children and two teachers dead.

Although it's unclear whether such a law could have stopped the 18-year-old shooter from Uvalde - who police say had no criminal record and no documented history of mental illness - lawmakers across the country are reviewing these laws, calling for new ones. new ones and reinforcing existing statutes.

Part of the attraction is the research that demonstrates the effectiveness of these measures.

They have recently found growing support among Republicans in Congress, and no longer face opposition from the National Rifle Association (NRA).

A girl survived the Uvalde massacre by pretending to be dead and staining herself with her friend's blood

May 27, 202200:33

In Texas, however, Abbott and Republican legislative leaders have not addressed the question of whether they would support a

red flag

law now.

Those who support tighter gun control in the state look back in frustration at the demise of the 2018 bill. 

"I'm used to not passing bills as a Democrat in the Texas legislature," said state Rep. Joe Moody, who sponsored one of the

red

-flag bills .

“But this is different, it goes beyond that.

It's about the kind of human beings we're going to be.

It's emotionally draining,” he added.

[Experts warn that improving mental health is not enough to prevent shootings]

“You work tirelessly on these issues so that this horror and this trauma doesn't visit someone else, and when it doesn't, it hurts because you know how many people want this change,” said Moody, who is from El Paso.

Red flag

laws

allow family members, police officers and, in some states, school officials, to apply for an extreme risk protection order in court.

If a judge grants it immediately, considering an individual to be a danger, a hearing must normally be held within two weeks to determine whether the person should be restricted from access to firearms for an extended period of time. 

Proponents contend that these laws allow police to quickly remove guns from the hands of people experiencing a mental health crisis, without creating a criminal record. 

"These kinds of policies hold promise for preventing the same kinds of tragedies that we've seen across the country, including in New York and Texas," said Shannon Frattaroli, a Johns Hopkins University professor of health policy who researches violence prevention. with firearms.

"We don't have to sit back and wait for violence to happen," she said.

[“The city of Uvalde is very disconsolate”: Latinos worry about the effects of the shooting on their mental health]

A bill to establish a national

red flag

law is expected to be voted on by the full House of Representatives in early June.

The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Georgia, would allow family members and law enforcement to sue in federal court to take away someone's access to guns.

The measure would be enforced by the US Marshals Service or another law enforcement agency.

Crosses bearing the names of the victims of Tuesday's shooting are placed outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Thursday, May 26, 2022.Jae C. Hong/AP

Several senators were open this week to a

red flag

bill , but no legislation is on the table yet.

Senators Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, and Marco Rubio, R-Florida, previously pushed for legislation in 2019 with Democrats to create a federal grant program to incentivize states to create

red flag

laws , but efforts they stalled.

Nineteen states and Washington DC currently have red flag laws, almost all of them enacted in the last five years.

Of the five most populous states, only Texas and Pennsylvania lack such a law.

On Wednesday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, both Democrats, called for

red flag

laws in their states.

[Uvalde's murderer had threatened to rape and kill several young women on social networks]

At a news conference Wednesday, Abbott touted other school safety measures enacted since the Santa Fe shooting, including increased training for school staff and resource officers, establishing threat assessment teams and funding of campus mental health and safety initiatives.

But Abbott has also enacted laws increasing access to guns, including one that allows Texans to carry a firearm without a license. 

A 2019 poll found that 68% of Texans supported a

red flag

law , including a majority (53%) of Republicans.

National polls have found that more than 70% of Americans support laws that allow a police officer or family members to seek court orders to temporarily remove weapons from someone deemed a threat.

Moments after Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke interrupted a news conference hosted by Abbott and Patrick on Wednesday - yelling that they were "doing nothing" to stop mass shootings - he told reporters that Texas needed a

red flag

law to prevent another school attack.

"When someone says that they have problems, that they can kill someone, that they can commit suicide, a law like this would protect the population," O'Rourke argued. 

[The mother of the Texas school shooter is seen again]

Abbott did not respond to a request for comment. 

Red flag

laws

have become a popular bipartisan solution, in part because experts believe they work.

“This is a policy that I think has some hope of landing in that little fading strip where people who advocate for gun rights and who really care about it, and people who are interested in violence prevention armed forces can come together and agree,” said Jeffrey Swanson, a Duke University psychiatry professor who has studied the enforcement of state gun restrictions.

Why hasn't the US changed gun control laws?

May 27, 202201:52

"If you're someone who believes that guns don't kill people, that people kill people, then here's a tool to help you find out who those people are," he said.

A 2019 study revealed 21 cases over two years in which red flag warrants were used in California to combat shootings targeting multiple people.

[At the NRA convention, they blame “evil” and not guns for the shootings.

Trump asks to reinforce schools]

It's impossible to know what would have happened if those people hadn't had their guns taken away, the authors noted, but "these cases suggest that this urgent, individualized intervention may play a role in efforts to prevent mass shootings."

Research published in 2018 revealed that both Connecticut and Indiana red flag laws were associated with decreased firearm-related suicides.

Fredrick Vars, a University of Alabama law professor with a background in mental health policy, noted that studies showing a reduction in suicides show the promise of extreme-risk protective orders, even for people who haven't yet. they have weapons.

“Well-designed red flag

laws

are not just about confiscating the weapons you own, but about prohibiting the purchase of them,” he

revealed.

Before the Uvalde gunman bought the rifle he used in the school massacre, he had frequently gotten into fights with his mother, with some incidents prompting a police response, his mother's boyfriend and neighbors told our sister network NBC. News.

Former classmates claimed the attacker had also posted photos of rifles on social media, and videos on Instagram of fights he had with his mother, according to The Washington Post. 

[“My son is no longer going to be returned to me”: the father of a child murdered in Uvalde advocates for gun control]

It's unclear whether any of that would have risen to the level of a protective order even if Texas had a

red flag

law , pointing to the challenges of such laws. 

The man suspected of killing 10 black people at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store this month was previously investigated by state police for threatening to shoot him as a high school student, and was given a drug evaluation. mental health, but law enforcement did not invoke the state's

red flag

law .

Uvalde, the small town victim of a massacre where its people fight so that their dead are not forgotten

May 27, 202202:29

Skeptics of red flag laws say their failure to use them in the Buffalo suspect's case demonstrates the limitations of these measures in preventing mass murder.

“Too often, when it comes to gun regulation, laws are passed but enforcement is not given enough thought,” recalled Eric Ruben, a professor at Southern Methodist University's law school.

“And enforcement of

red flag

laws has varied considerably from state to state,” he added.

[YouTube videos teaching Buffalo shooting suspect how to modify his gun are still online]

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, issued an executive order on Wednesday requiring state police, under current

red flag

law , to seek an extreme risk protection order whenever they have probable cause to believe. that a person can seriously injure himself or others.

“This could be a wake-up call that these laws, while not perfect, could prevent some of these horrible shootings,” Ruben said.

"And people have to educate themselves on how to invoke them when there are red flags," he added.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-05-29

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