TALLAHASSEY – After 17 students and teachers were massacred in one of the nation’s deadliest school shootings, families begged Florida lawmakers for a change.
Lawmakers walked through the bloody halls of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, and put together the bipartisan gun safety package that was then a GOV. Rick Scott signed the law and destroyed Florida from the National Rifle Association.
Now, seven years after the shooting and the passage of the bill, Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to repeal one of its main tenants, the Red Flag Act.
The goal of the law is to allow the court to consider and approve gun seizures from people pose a threat to themselves or others.
But DeSantis raised the idea of repealing it this week on the first day of Florida legislative meetings. He says he believes the law violates people’s rights.
The governor’s question is unlikely to gain traction in this session.
DeSantis was a US representative running for governor at the time of the shooting, and was far from Tallahassee’s sentiment. However, many Florida lawmakers have worked directly to the intensity of the first few weeks of the first few weeks. And the Senate president called the Red Flag Act, which is important to remove weapons from people who could hurt themselves or others.
Here’s what you need to know about Florida’s Red Flag Act and other gun issues that may be on the table for this session:
What is the Red Flag Law?
Because Florida’s Danger Flag Act is formally known as a risk protection order, courts allow someone to temporarily request that they abandon their firearm if they pose a risk to them or others.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, 21 states have versions of the Red Flag Act.
In Florida, only law enforcement agencies can petition courts for risk protection orders.
The petition should detail the types of firearms and ammunition that a person owns, where they will maintain them, and where officers will swear specific facts about why someone is at risk.
It includes information about whether someone is seriously mentally ill, convicted of domestic violence, abused a controlled substance, or poses a violent threat.
The civil court must hold a hearing within 14 days to hear evidence and decide whether to issue a risk protection order for up to one year. A person may choose to hold a lawyer for the hearing.
Law enforcement can also seek a temporary risk protection order prior to the hearing if someone raises “a serious risk of causing personal injury to himself or others in the near future.”
The state laws governing the Red Flag Act have not been changed or amended since its passage in 2018.
How is the Red Flag Method used?
Florida law enforcement officials filed approximately 10,000 protective order petitions from July 2022 until the end of last year, according to a report from the state court’s administrator’s office.
Hillsboro accounted for 800 petitions. Pinellas accounted for 1,035.
Hillsboro County’s first risk protection order in 2018 was applied to a man who drunkly kicked the door to his girlfriend’s sister’s mobile home.
According to the arrest report, he carried a rifle and pistol and threatened to “kill all of you and then kill yourself.”
In another case in Hillsboro, in 2022, the school’s resource officer treated an angry parent at Palm River Elementary School. The man was not arrested, but law enforcement officials applied for a risk protection order and the court removed the shotgun from his possession.
What do lawmakers think?
No bills have been introduced this year in either the House or the Senate.
Senate President R-Wauchula Ben Albritton said Florida law enforcement agencies consider the risk protection order to be invaluable. He said the law could help stop shooters like Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High.
Albritton voted for the Post-Parkland bill in 2018. So did House Speaker Danny Perez.
“We just hold it tight and let things work,” Albritton said.
What are Desantis’ concerns?
DeSantis said he believes the Red Flag Act will put a burden on individuals to prove that they are not dangerous.
“That’s not how the due process works. The burden is always on the government, but they changed the burden they put in to do that,” DeSantis said.
Lewis Valdez, director of American gun owners in Florida, said his organization heard from people who feel that Red Flag’s legal process is being used in “duplicate ways.” He did not mention any particular cases, but said the orders were used in “simple processes” such as divorce and custody proceedings, and that the orders could lead to disarmed people.
Only law enforcement agencies can launch petitions, but Valdez said officers could be influenced by bad information. Valdez said if someone is a threat, their cases should be handled through the criminal justice system.
“The Red Flag Act is a political band-aid that wiped out problems under the rug,” Valdez said. “And the problem is that Florida has mental health issues that are not addressed.”
What do you think of law enforcement?
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, chairman of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, said law enforcement has “undoubtedly avoided violence” using risk protection orders.
Gualtieri, a Republican, said people misunderstood the Red Signals Act and believe law enforcement is taking people’s firearms.
However, he said that disarmed people do not need to give police officers a gun, even if a risk protection order is granted. Instead, family members or someone else can choose to keep them.
He dismissed due process concerns, saying the system had protection. He said both sides will start calling witnesses and will be able to present evidence at hearings.
“Unless we say we don’t trust the judge, where are the concerns?” Gualtieri said.
Gualtieri said that risk protection orders often save people from hurting themselves. The Baker Act negatively commits anyone who is threatening to hurt themselves, but does not allow anyone to disarm after being released.
“They’re heading home to the place where the gun is,” Gualtieri said.
What other gun issues are there this year?
Desantis said he wanted to see a law allowing open firearms to pass and would like to prohibit people under the age of 21 from lowering the purchase of rifles to 18.
Albritton rejected the idea of passing the Open Carry Bill this year. However, if you are getting older to buy a rifle, you may have juice.
The law passed the Florida home in the last two sessions, but never received a Senate hearing. Speaker Perez said Tuesday that he supported the measure. Albritton wasn’t very clear about the proposal, but he said he was thinking about it.
“I am the leader of the candidates for the revision and when the government is involved in our constitutional rights, I am always skeptical of it,” Perez said. “And of course, I think we have to see everything.”
