New Data Suggest Florida Cops Have Broad Power to Take Away People's Second Amendment Rights
https://reason.com/2020/02/11/new-da...ndment-rights/
A new report on Florida's "red flag" law claims Broward County's experience with gun confiscation orders confirms that they prevent suicides and homicides while guaranteeing due process for people accused of posing a threat to themselves or others. But the analysis by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (GLC), based on 255 police petitions filed in the year ending March 9, 2019, actually reinforces the civil liberties concerns raised by red flag laws. In particular, it shows that the judges who are supposed to decide whether someone poses enough of a threat to justify suspending his Second Amendment rights almost always defer to the conclusions reached by law enforcement agencies.
When police file such petitions, the respondent has no advance notice and no opportunity to rebut the allegations against him. The orders, which last up to 14 days, are supposed to be based on "reasonable cause to believe that the respondent poses a significant danger of causing personal injury" to himself or others "in the near future." In the cases covered by the GLC report, police always sought ex parte orders, judges always granted them, and they did so "very quickly," sometimes within hours.
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