Congressman Massie uses CPRC research to argue for an amendment to protect Americans’ Due Process Rights
$2.5 billion in the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion entitlement package would allow the US Department of Justice to incentivize states adopting Red Flag Laws. Congressman Thomas Massie proposed an amendment to protect people’s Due Process rights, but Democrats said that was unnecessary because no one would threaten those rights. Massie pointed out the very Red Flag legislation that the House Judiciary Committee had taken up earlier this year would have done just that.
The video shows the debate over Massie’s amendment, which Democrats defeated on a pure party line vote.
In a previous op-ed that the Crime Prevention Research Center’s Lott had with Massie, they wrote about this problem:
“. . . These laws let the government take firearms away from people who are arrested but not convicted of crimes. Even simple complaints without arrests have been enough. That is quite a violation of due process, and hopefully the courts will strike down this provision. Gun-control advocates have resisted making this rule explicit in the laws, presumably out of fear that it would create problems in the courts, but presentations before the State Uniform Law Commission make it clear that these actions are quite common. Also, courts frequently take into account other factors, such as gender and age, in predicting the chances that someone will commit a crime or commit suicide. This can be seen as a discriminatory practice.
“It has always been possible to take away someone’s guns, but all 50 states have required testimony by a mental-health expert before a judge. Under red-flag laws, however, expert testimony will no longer be used. Gun-control advocates argue that it’s essential not even to alert the person that his guns may be taken away. Hence, the 5 a.m. police raids. . . .”
John R. Lott, Jr. and Thomas Massie, “‘Red Flag’ Laws Are The Wrong Solution To Mass Shootings,” National Review, August 14, 2019.
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