By: julie mccabe

julie mccabe — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 19:29:38 +0000

thank you for red flag article

I have pages of thoughts about US, 2nd Amendment, commercialization of weapons, etc. But, since you write about Red Flag Laws (RFL), I focus there.

I’m not saying don’t have RFL. BUT, “mental health” slogans tossed around by politicians following mass shootings are meaningless. To say the Uvalde shooter had “mental health” problems sits very wrong with me. Someone who kills children in a schoolroom with a gun is different than another who drives drunk repeatedly until he kills people in a wreck. NO ONE explains “mental health” given this dissonance, the cause and effect of “murder”. We’re beyond good and bad “choices” into something (I hesitate here.) evil at work (Stephen Paddock).

Use Aldrich as an example. His (our?) RFL chance was derailed by his family (who he threaten to the extent they called the police) refusing to cooperate with prosecutors in the followup criminal case. (This happens all the time, e.g. in domestic abuse cases.)Yes, this RFL failure has produced hindsight angst in Colorado strong enough to change / alter people’s opinions. Few would assert we don’t have more “Aldrich(s)” on our future. But knowing this – what now?

I flux between whether our gun / mass shootings predicament is God ordained irony or just the foreseeable, big number statistics of cause and effect. Whatever, our gun infused “mental health” crisis will result things like societal fragmentation (e.g. Am I afraid for my child in school?) to Big Brother computer algorithms looking for the unstable outliers among us. I can’t fathom that gun advocates don’t grok on this dystopia we face?

I loathe doom and gloom logic. Nonetheless, “mental health” platitudes won’t solve our guns and addictions crises. Social services departments have $ millions in funding, are filled with mental health experts, sociologists, etc. Yet they have struggled for years with their bureaucracy’s handling of child abuse cases.

We have to get this right, no choice, it’s where we are. But we really need to level with ourselves, whew!!

Good day, Happy Holidays, New Year, and Merry Christmas, Hanukah, Kawanza (anything else?). Julie McCabe

By: David McCuskey

David McCuskey — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 22:08:02 +0000

Brian, Of course I disagree with many parts of your Red Flag article or I wouldn’t be writing. My county opted not to enforce that law and it wasn’t just the sheriff, we had a town meeting and elected to become a sanctuary. We elected our sheriff because he will stand up to laws that are unconstitutional. Sheriffs take an oath to protect the constitution.
If Colorado passed a law that limited your speech and came to close your office, would you want the sheriff to say “Sorry Brian, I guess you have to close shop and take it to the courts” or would you want him to say “Guys, get your butts out of town and don’t come back or I’ll lock you up”. If you read the constitution, it says that you can’t be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process. Colorado’s Red Flag law takes your property before due process and you would essentially have to prove yourself innocent. Why hasn’t Colorado attempted to punish those counties who declared themselves sanctuaries. Might it be that they know the law is unconstitutional and don’t want to take the matter to a higher court. The shootings that happen are tragic and maybe we should actually enforce the laws already on the books before we make more. I or any gun store owner can tell you laws that aren’t being enforced by the feds or you can “google” it.

Administrator’s note: (ERPO’s are pursued by bringing evidence in front of a judge. Who weighs evidence and issues or decides not to issue an order. This is in fact — due process)

Sincerely,
David McCuskey

Comments on: Red Flag laws work, but they have to be used

By: julie mccabe

By: David McCuskey