Since Florida’s red flag law was passed after the Parkland school massacre in 2018, judges have acted more than 8,000 times to temporarily prohibit an individual from buying or possessing a gun, CNN recently reported.
However, a Wall Street Journal analysis published last year found that many jurisdictions have used the laws rarely or not at all.
A study of the use of Washington state’s red flag law in King County found that of the 75 petitions filed, only five where the threat was to other people met a definition of a mass shooting threat. Respondents were described as being at risk only to themselves in 40% of petitions, to only others in 27%, and to both in 33%.
Another study found that Connecticut and Indiana’s firearm seizure laws resulted in meaningful reductions in firearm suicides.
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