• ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 months ago

    Hey dude I hope you’re doing good! I’m just popping in to add in here:

    It is actually already a federal law that people who were IVC’d in any state have that reported into NICs and have their guns confiscated. It isn’t “red flag laws” specifically which seek to broaden the law we already have (depending on state, with a burden of proof as low as “he said she said” in some cases, always at a secret hearing you aren’t allowed to even know about much less defend yourself, and then they may return them 1yr later when you finally do get your day in court if you can prove the negative.)

    So, we don’t have a red flag law nationally, but we do have 18 U.S.C. § 922(d), [which states:] it is unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person “has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution.”

    Seems a lot of people (on and off lemmy) aren’t aware of this law (which, in this case, would have prevented this had the beaurocrats done their jobs), just figured I’d let y’all know.

    • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      That’s the problem… the word “adjudicated”. Unless it goes through a judge, the guns are NOT confiscated and it does not show up on a background check.

      So the Maine shooter was held, it didn’t go through a judge, was not “adjudicated”.

      Same for Jacksonville:
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Jacksonville_shooting

      “In 2017, he was the subject of a Baker Act call, used to place persons under involuntary detainment for mental health examination for up to 72 hours.[6]”

      Same for Allen, Texas:
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Allen,_Texas_mall_shooting

      “Garcia was then enlisted in the U.S. Army in June 2008, but he never completed basic training: he was terminated after three months due to mental health concerns.[39][40] Because this was an administrative separation, rather than a punitive discharge, Garcia’s termination by the Army would not show up on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.[41]”

      • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 months ago

        Ah, I see. To me that isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, to require some proof before removal of one’s rights. If anyone can just say “my ex said X” then what is stopping people from abusing that? Right wingers calling it in on trans people who are trying to protect themselves from right wing violence for instance, or an abusive ex having his ex-wife’s guns taken so he can go hurt her, something like that. I personally believe it should require at least some proof that would hold up in court. I’m also not a huge fan of the whole “Take the guns first, due process second” approach that Trump supported with the red flag law secret hearings business, I think that if someone is making verifiable threats, you should be able to charge them with that in a normal, non-secret hearing, leading to the adjucated IVC, removal of rights, flagged in NICs, etc.

        I think there is a way that we could all agree on, gun rights supporters and realistic gun control supporters alike (the no-guns crowd aside). Something like actually sending these people through a judge in a timely manner oughta at least be a step in the right direction.