The state of California has never met a gun law it didn’t seem to like. That’s especially true of something like a red flag law. I mean, giving California an excuse to disarm someone? Sign them the hell up, am I right?

However, we’ve had a number of high-profile mass shootings that have taken place in the state where the red flag law was completely useless such as Thousand Oaks and San Bernardino, just to name a couple.

If red flag laws are supposed to stop mass shootings, they kind of suck at it.

Especially when authorities in California may have stopped a potential mass shooting without needing any such thing.

A former Upland resident was charged last week with threatening his employer and co-workers after he was furloughed from his job at an Irwindale tire warehouse, officials confirmed Tuesday, May 26.

Police had also confiscated firearms, ammunition and a machete from Eder Simiano during the course of the investigation, Irwindale police Sgt. Rudy Gatto said. The investigation ended Tuesday, he added.

Simiano pleaded not guilty last week to four counts of making criminal threats and one count of a prohibited person in possession of ammunition, court records show.

The alleged crimes occurred April 13, according to court records.

Why, it’s almost like red flag laws aren’t actually needed at all.

Then again, that might be because they’re not. Simiano was arrested because he made threats–a criminal action–which gave them probable cause to see if he had the means to carry out his threats. It turned out, he did and they even uncovered evidence of another crime, at least allegedly.

No matter how many laws you pass, what you need to thwart mass shootings often isn’t some new law, but actual use of the ones we have. Planning a mass shooting is illegal. Further, that planning rarely happens in a vacuum. There’s rarely a shooter so put together that no one ever gets a glimpse of what’s transpiring.

The problem is, for the longest time, people just didn’t think it meant anything.

Now, I’m not saying people necessarily knew the other person was planning a mass shooting and just let it happen. What I’m saying is that these people always acted suspiciously, but folks didn’t want to get involved.

Well, they’re willing to now.

Simiano is being charged because he threatened people’s lives. That’s also something many mass shooters have done but wasn’t reported for whatever reason.

Now, he’s facing criminal charges and no one has lost their lives. I’m not writing about how Simiano shot up the warehouse he worked at before being furloughed and flipping his gourd because people took the threats seriously.

Look, if you suspect something is going on, call the police. Let them investigate. If it’s nothing, no big deal. Better to find that out than to watch in horror as the news unfolds that this person slaughtered innocent people because you kept quiet.

Simiano will now face trial for his alleged crimes while everyone else goes about their day. That’s how it should go.