Arkansas Lawmaker Tries Second Run At Red Flag Bill

Last year, a lawmaker in Arkansas decided his state needed a red flag law. Unsurprisingly, it was defeated.

Red flag laws are controversial because they involve infringing on the rights of an individual who doesn’t get their due process rights respected. As a result, gun rights activists almost universally oppose red flag laws. As well they should.

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However, it seems the lawmaker in Arkansas didn’t get much out of his failure last year. Instead, he wants to try it all over again.

Senator Greg Leding, the bill’s sponsor, said in an interview that there were enough misconceptions that led to its failure.

“There were a lot of questions about how these laws work, they can be very effective but they do need to be put together in a proper way so it can protect individuals and the public and I think it was just a matter of having not had sufficient time to really sit down with lawmakers and address all of their concerns.”

While he began working on the proposal a year prior to the 2019 legislative session, it still wasn’t enough time to convince his Republican counterparts who believe red flag laws violate peoples’ rights.

“There are some lawmakers who simply won’t come aboard for whatever reasons, but I do think there are enough who once they understand how these laws work and they’re confident that the law is constructed in such a way that it protects everybody that we will get the support necessary,” Leding said.

“Here in Arkansas, the way we drafted the law, you were entitled to go before a judge within three days of your access being restricted, so a very quick turnaround and even then if the judge decides that you do present a clear threat to yourself or the public, the restriction can only be extended up to a year, under no circumstances does anybody ever permanently lose their to firearms,” Leding said.

Wow. Just three whole days? I can’t imagine why people might object.

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After all, it’s still a bill that takes guns from people who have broken no law without them having due process of law beforehand. That pesky constitutional rights thing popping up all over again, I know.

Honestly, this bill needs to die just like the last one. Leding doesn’t really get why his bill failed, thinking that his fellow legislators just didn’t understand it well enough. It’s a common ailment on the left, I’m afraid. They think the only reason someone could disagree with them on anything is a lack of understanding.

No, we understand the issue fine. We understand the bill fine. People just thought it was an absolute trainwreck like every other red flag law proposed and so they didn’t side with it. Shocking, I know, but there you have it.

At the end of the day, this bill will probably end up like the last one and poor Leding will be left to wonder why. It’s because of his own delusion, his delusion that somehow his bill is exactly what we on this side of the debate have been waiting for. He never bothered to learn that we don’t want any kind of red flag bill to see the light of day.

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