via thetruthaboutguns:
From the NRA-ILA . . .
Proponents of so-called “red flag” laws like to claim they are a “public safety” measure. But a union representing state police investigators in New York is sounding the alarm that a mandate handed down by Gov. Katherine Hochul (D) to increase seizures of lawfully-owned guns is interfering with their other crime fighting duties. Details were provided in a recent article at news site TimesUnion.com.
“Red flag” laws are a controversial gun control concept that allow certain persons to seek judicial orders for police to seize lawfully-held firearms from supposedly “dangerous” individuals and add such individuals to prohibited persons databases used for firearm-related background checks. The idea has been increasing in popularity with anti-gun activists, who see it as closing “loopholes” in current laws.
But pro-gun advocates criticize the laws for lacking adequate due process, for requiring judges to make unscientific guesses about a person’s propensity for future violence, and for failing to otherwise incapacitate truly dangerous individuals or address the underlying issues causing their instability.
Congress, over the NRA’s opposition, last year authorized federal funding to support states in adopting and implementing red flag laws. That law claimed to set standards of due process states would have to meet before being eligible for the grants. Nevertheless, as the NRA has reported, those standards appear to be loosely enforced, if they are being enforced at all.
New York’s red flag law, for example, has been found unconstitutional in at least two separate court decisions. Nevertheless, the state received over $13 million in federal funding to “support” use of the law.