Over a three-year period beginning in 2021, 353 petitions were filed under Colorado’s red flag law, and 39% of those petitions led to firearms being relinquished, according to research our group published in Preventive Medicine Reports.
Red flag laws are also known as extreme risk protection orders. These orders temporarily bar individuals deemed by a judge to be at risk of violence from buying or possessing firearms.
We found that 54.6% of petitions across Colorado were filed by law enforcement. These petitions were granted 94.3% of the time.
Petitions filed by people outside of law enforcement were granted just 35% of the time.
When the petitions of either type are not granted, the individuals involved are allowed to keep their firearms.
Thirty-seven percent of all petitions in Colorado between 2020 and 2022 were filed in counties that made proclamations against red flag laws, calling themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries.”
The name Second Amendment sanctuaries is modeled after the term “sanctuary cities,” a term used by local governments taking a stand against immigration enforcement.
These declarations are intended to send a political message against extreme risk protection orders. Supporters of the declarations are expressing concerns that the laws violate the U.S. Constitution, subvert due process and undermine residents’ ability to protect themselves. However, anecdotes have highlighted cases where protective orders have been sought and granted in many of the 37 sanctuaries. Our study provides data to back up those anecdotes.
In Colorado, fewer petitions are granted in sanctuaries possibly because the percentage of orders filed by police is significantly lower. But red flag laws are still being used – with some notable differences.
The petitions filed and granted in sanctuary jurisdictions are more serious than those filed in nonsanctuaries. Nearly 1 in 5 involved a shooter threatening to kill at least three other people in addition to themselves. More than 90% included threats to shoot specific people such as family members, partners or law enforcement officers.
— Christopher Knoepke in Red Flag Laws Are Still Used in Colorado’s Second Amendment Sanctuaries, Just Less Frequently
The good news for us is, we can leverage the upcoming ‘do or politically-die’ Leftist Scum ™ policy revamp in our favor, since it’s the politically elite that want gun control, not the everyday working slob.
We need to drill down on this HARD.
The Trump 2.0 administration is going to be far more consequential for us than if he had simply won re-election in 2020, mark my words…