It was revealed in Indiana that the FedEx shooter had a shotgun confiscated in 2020 as a result of red flag laws, despite this he obtained another firearm which he used to massacre innocent people. This revelation caused a judge in the state to make mandated changes to the red flag law system.
It was found that the shooter has had a shotgun confiscated by police but a red flag order was never actually filed, the fact that the order was never filed is gravely concerning, this has pushed Indianapolis Judge Amy Jones to require that all red flag cases initiated by the Indianapolis police go through her. The failure by local officials to do paperwork resulted in this individual obtaining guns that he would use to commit a mass shooting.
From The Hill:
Last week, Rick Snyder, president of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police, criticized Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears, who he claimed had “failed to do his part” by not bringing Hole to court.
“Unfortunately, the lack of action by the Marion County prosecutor prevented a court hearing, which could have … prohibited the suspect from owning … any other firearms,” Snyder said. “Why didn’t the prosecutor seek the hearing that the statute requires? Why didn’t the prosecutor use all the legal tools available? Why didn’t the prosecutor try?”
Under Indiana’s red flag law, police may confiscate guns from a person deemed dangerous to themselves and others, the AP notes. Prosecutors can then request that a court ban that person from buying other firearms.
This case shows that despite gun control legislation being passed it failed to stop a tragedy.
Many are pointing out as well that the state of Indiana is confiscating firearms without any paperwork, the argument made by proponents of red flag laws is that they will help stop these types of tragedies and allow those who were falsely flagged to get their firearms back easily. This is clearly not what is going on, officials are using these laws as a means to confiscate firearms and this has not stopped the very tragedies red flags laws were intended to prevent.
Red flag laws have clearly failed in this state, prosecutors are using them as a justification to confiscate firearms from anyone they deem “may” be a threat to themselves and society. Now judges are opening new doors for abuse when it comes to these laws. As Bearing Arms points out:
Frankly, the biggest legislative change that’s needed is the outright repeal of Indiana’s red flag law, as well as changes to current state law allowing seized guns to be kept by police even if no criminal charges are filed. The law is clearly being abused if prosecutors are finding it easier to keep seized firearms without going through the red flag process, and the law itself is ripe for abuse if judges are just going to rubber-stamp their approval of petitions rather than risk another case like this one.
The purpose of the state’s red flag law isn’t to actually deal with dangerous individuals. It’s to seize all guns owned by someone that a court says “may” be dangerous to themselves or others. Once the guns are taken, however, the supposedly dangerous person is still left to their own devices. Their guns might be gone, but their knives, gasoline, matches, pills, ropes, belts, and any other object that they could use to hurt themselves or another remain in their possession.
