It’s considered impolite to say, “I told you so”, but here I think it’s an important reminder of the need to know what legislation can do before actually making it law. In an article from Fox 4 Southwest Florida we see several examples of a so called Red Flag Law being abused, not only against innocent adults, but against children as well.
I found the opening paragraph enlightening:
Florida’s new red flag law – created to protect the public from future mass shooters – has temporarily stripped gun rights from more than 2,500 people across the state, including at least 100 kids, an I-Team review found.
Fox 4 – Children as young as 8-years-old face gun ban under Florida’s new red flag law
The focus of the article is the number of times children are being targeted by Florida’s new red flag law. However, I see a massive abuse of rights, and not just “gun rights”. This should surprise no one, as I enumerated the many rights these laws infringe on in my articles Red Flag Laws, Another Federal Attempt to Bribe States to Enact Red Flag Laws, and Brandon Masin and the Effects of Red Flag Laws. So let’s take a look at some of the infringement of Floridians’ rights beyond what I’ve already covered.
Freedom of Speech
Let’s start with freedom of speech. The article lists three examples of risk protections orders (RPOs) being issued based, apparently solely, on a person’s speech.
• A 91-year-old man, who claimed he wanted to “even the score” with his late wife’s alleged lover;
Fox 4 – Children as young as 8-years-old face gun ban under Florida’s new red flag law
• A former U.S. Marine-turned-teacher, who admitted he told students during a lockdown drill how he could be “the best” school shooter;
• And an 8-year-old in Polk County who got mad at school and then threatened to “get a gun and shoot everybody up.”
Now before you jump up and claim a First Amendment violation, remember that amendment starts with the words “Congress shall make no law…”. Congress did not make this law, the Florida legislature did. However, Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution of the State of Florida states:
SECTION 4. Freedom of speech and press.—Every person may speak, write and publish sentiments on all subjects but shall be responsible for the abuse of that right. No law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press.
Constitution of the State of Florida
Since it appears people are having their liberties and property taken away based solely, or even primarily, on their speech, this is a clear violation of Florida’s Constitution. Should these instances have led to an investigation? Probably, but it appears that the mere accusation was enough to issue these so-called risk protection orders.
Unreasonable Seizures
While I document the violation of our rights against unreasonable search and seizure in previous articles, the news from Fox 4 brought an interesting twist to light. In Polk County, 20% of the RPOs issued between March 2018 and October 2019 were issued to children. When asked why his department had filed so many RPOs against kids, Sheriff Judd said:
First, it’s to put the parents on notice that you got to do a really good job at securing your firearms, so your children can’t get to it and number two, it’s putting the parents on notice about your kid’s got an issue here.
Fox 4 – Children as young as 8-years-old face gun ban under Florida’s new red flag law
Wait, I thought Red Flag Laws were meant to stop mass shootings, not “putting the parents on notice” about their children. I also thought the Sheriff swore an oath to uphold the law, not to teach parents how they should be raising their children. Does this mean the best and proper way of “putting the parents on notice” is to have a legal order of protection issued against the child? An order that could follow them for the rest of their lives? That may impact their ability to get into college or find a job in the field they desire? Would Sheriff Polk hire a deputy whose records showed they had an RPO issued against them? Somehow, I doubt it. Even so, the Sheriff still wants to permanently punish children just so he can “put the parents on notice”?
Punish The Innocent
Sheriff Judd said “You and I both know that 99.9 percent of them are kids making stupid kid-like statements, but can you tell me which one means it?” So Sheriff Judd admits that 99.9% of the children he is filing the RPOs against are innocent, but that’s OK because one tenth of one percent are actually guilty? What happened to Blackstone’s admonition:
“It is better that Ten Guilty Persons Escape than One Innocent Suffer.”
Sir William Blackstone
Sheriff Judd would rather that 999 innocent children suffer so that one may not go free. Do you really want to live in a world where you are punished even though the government cannot prove you are a danger to yourself or others? If that idea doesn’t make your head hurt, I fear for this country. If you live in Polk County Florida, do you want your law enforcement to restrain first and ask questions later? If not, why do you have this man in office? He has violated his oath of office to support both the U.S. and Florida constitutions. That should be more than sufficient grounds to find someone better, someone who will actually protect your rights.
Conclusion
So yes, forgive me, but I told you so. I told you that these Red Flag Laws would be abused and that innocent people would have their property taken and their lives ruined by others with an agenda. I even expected fearful people overreacting to just about any out of context statement they might overhear. What I did not expect was an agent of the government to take this opportunity to destroy the lives of children just to get their parents’ attention. I also never thought that the state of Florida would actually become a police state, where law enforcement would use any excuse to take children to court to get their parents’ attention or a state where an elected Sheriff would be allowed to destroy the lives of 1,000 families because he believes one of the children may be dangerous.
What are you doing to stop this tyranny in your state and in your country? If the answer is complaining on the Internet, then the truth is you are doing nothing effective at all. We should all be in front of our legislators, the men and women we hire to act as our agents, and demand they follow their oaths to support the constitution of their state and their nation. If they will not, then it’s our duty to fire them and find someone who will. If you do not, you may one day find yourself standing before a court because someone didn’t like what you said or because they wanted to put someone on notice.
