Should Massachusetts Seize Guns?

Massachusetts To Allow ‘Red Flag’ Gun Seizure

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker will now have to decide on signing a proposal allowing for temporary gun seizures from those thought to be a threat to themselves or others.

The emergency bill, H.4670, passed a final roll call in the state legislature last week with only one lawmaker, Fitchburg Republican Sen. Dean Tran, voting against the measure in the Senate, joined by 15 other GOP members in the House. Broad in scope, it would allow current and former romantic partners, family, roommates, and police to seek an extreme risk protection order, suspending someone’s gun rights and firearm license for up to a year.

“This is not anything that changes Second Amendment rights,” said Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Stone Creem, D-Newton. “This is about licensing, when a license needs to be suspended because that person is a risk.”

The so-called “red flag law” establishes a mechanism to allow family members or law enforcement to ask the courts to remove access to guns, ammunition, firearm ID cards, or licenses to carry a firearm from an individual thought to be at risk. The order, once issued, would be transmitted to federal agencies to bar future gun sales or transfers through licensed dealers. The ERPO would last for up to one year with the option open to discontinue to renew.

The bill has been repeatedly slammed by Second Amendment groups as it allows for ex parte proceedings where the accused does not have to be present to lose their gun rights and that law enforcement is not required to return seized firearms after the order expires. Further, the Gun Owners’ Action League argue that the proposed ERPO system puts the burden of proof on the accused gun owner who, in order to get their firearms back, will have to pay upwards of $10,000 to an attorney to challenge the order in the courts.

The measure has enjoyed the strong support from state and national gun control organizations with sponsor Rep. Marjorie Decker giving a tip of the hat to Everytown, Moms Demand Action, Stop Handgun Violence, the Massachusetts Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High students on social media after the bill was green-lighted.

source: guns.com

Trump Doctrine--Bad For Americans?

Seattle police apply the Trump doctrine

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Jay Baker

Personal Liberty Poll

Exercise your right to vote.

During his gab-fest with lawmakers and gun rights stakeholders last week, President Donald Trump suggested a good gun policy would be taking guns from people and letting courts decide later whether the confiscation was lawful.

His exact quote, referencing the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooter, was:

The police saw that he was a problem, they didn’t take any guns away. Now, that could’ve been policing. They should’ve taken them away anyway, whether they had the right or not… I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida … to go to court would have taken a long time. Take the guns first, go through due process second.

As Bob Livingston reminded us regarding Trump’s comments, such a thing is a blatant violation of Americans’ rights guaranteed under the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Amendments. Trump received no backlash from the attendees at the meeting, and he’s gotten little backlash from the mainstream media – which demonstrates they agree wholeheartedly.

Apparently, so does the Seattle Police Department, which recently used a new state law to forcibly confiscate a weapon from a man who had broken no law.

According to media reports, the incident occurred in the Belltown community after neighbors complained the man “had been intimidating people for the past year.” That intimidation involved wearing a .25 caliber automatic on his side while walking down the hall of his apartment complex and staring at customers through a plate glass window while wearing his firearm.

Open carry is legal in Washington, and no one accused the man – who police have not identified – of brandishing the weapon or threatening anyone. Yet based on complaints, police used the “extreme risk protection order” law (ERPO) to force the man to surrender his firearm.

ERPOs have been used by Washington police departments “a few dozen” times to convince people to voluntarily give up their weapons, according to reports. But Seattle is the first department to serve an ERPO warrant and forcibly confiscate a gun, according to media reports.

During a meeting with governors, Washington Governor Jay Inslee told Trump that Washington’s ERPO law should be a model for the rest of the nation.

Millions of people who once lived in communist Russia and China and Nazi Germany were unavailable for comment.