In a recent segment on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Carlson brought up the issue of Red Flag Laws and the media frenzy that came in the wake of the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings.
In Carlson’s segment he lays out the case against Red Flag Laws, the most significant part of that case is Due Process. Carlson told his viewers that the Red Flag Laws would end Due Process.
“Red Flag Laws seem like one of the ideas that no decent person could possibly oppose. You want crazy people to have guns? Of course you don’t. Who would? So naturally, you are for Red Flag Laws. You may soon get Red Flag Laws across the country. What would that mean if we do? Two things you should know. First Red Flag Laws will not end mass shootings. But RED Flag Laws will end Due Process,” Carlson said.
Tucker Carlson would go on to explain “Due Process is a simple concept but it’s the key to everything good about America. In our system of justice, citizens cannot be punished without first being charged with a crime. Politicians cannot just decide to hurt you, throw you in handcuffs, lock you in jail, seize your property, simply because they don’t like how you think or vote. Before they punish you, they have to go through a formal process in which they describe which specific law you broke and how you broke it. They have to prove it. For serious crimes with big penalties, the government has to convince a group of your fellow citizens first, it’s called a grand jury.
Tucker Carlson explained that this is where the issues with Red Flag Laws come from. “But the Red Flag Laws will end this. Under Red Flag Laws, the government doesn’t have to prove you did anything wrong.”
“All required to punish you is a complaint, and possibly even an anonymous complaint where somebody says you seem dangerous. that complaint doesn’t come from a grand jury, it can come from anyone including someone who hates you or someone who doesn’t like your politics,” Carlson continued.
You can watch the full segment here.
There have been many fundamental issues with Red Flag Laws and this idea that they would be misused by political actors is not new, in fact, these laws have already been abused by the jaded in areas that already have them.
One Woman in Colorado was already convicted for lying on a Redd Flag Law Petition and in this case little was actually done to help compensate the individual who had their rights taken away.
As we reported back in April:Â
A Colorado woman has been convicted of lying on a Red Flag petition, and the worst fears of the 2A lobby have come to fruition.
Susan Holmes, a Fort Collins native, filed an Extreme Risk Protection Order petition back in 2020 against a Colorado State University police officer. On the petition, Holmes claimed that she and Cpl. Phillip Morris had a child together which is something that was not only provably false but completely made up.
A judge caught wind of this and immediately rejected the petition. Outside of the hearing, Holmes told reporters that she did “not feel like [she had] perjured [herself]”
Just last week a court found that she had in fact perjured herself. She would be convicted of perjury and attempting to influence a public servant. The penalties for this are fines up to $500,000 and six years in prison. Holmes will be sentenced on June 1st.
