How a New York County Used the State's 'Red Flag' Law to Seize 160 Guns.

[elleng]

Suffolk County on Long Island aggressively uses the law to take guns from people in crisis in an effort to prevent shootings and suicides. Its experience could inform a national debate.

The boy made his threat aboard a school bus.

In late March, a 16-year-old in Suffolk County, N.Y., 60 miles east of New York City, told fellow students that he wanted to shoot their heads off, according to court records. He told the police that he wanted to hurt himself with a shotgun at his house.

What followed happens more often in Suffolk County than any other county in the state: A judge issued a “red flag” order that would allow authorities to take weapons from the home. The police filed an application to remove the boy’s access to guns. The judge acted after finding that he posed a danger. Two shotguns were taken. The judge later wrote that the boy “admitted that not having the shotguns in the home is helpful to him.”

In the wake of horrific mass shootings at a Buffalo supermarket, a Texas school and an Oklahoma hospital, many policymakers are grasping for ways to keep guns out of hands of people in crisis.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/05/nyregion/red-flag-law-shootings-new-york.html

((Glad to see it.))

[Turbineguy]

1. The problem with these laws

is that it is difficult to quantify their benefit as the course of history has been altered.

For the better.

[DBoon]

2. find another county with similar demographics but no such law

compare the two.

Or do a before/after comparison with Suffolk County.

[Danmel]

3. Had Florida had a red flag law before Parkland instead of after

We might never have heard of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School.
17 people might still be alive including Scott Biegel, whose family lives in my neighborhood.

I live in Suffolk County. It is generally not the most forward thinking place. I'm pleasantly surprised to read this.