“Red Flag Law” strips gun owners of their constitutional rights

Urge your state lawmakers to oppose the Gun Confiscation Order bills, SP 719 and LD 1884.

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There is now a serious possibility that the Maine legislature will enact one of Michael Bloomberg’s nastiest gun control ideas: the Gun Confiscation Order.

The Senate bill is SP 719, which could move as early as next week, and House bill is LD 1884.

Sugar-coated as “Community Protection,” these bills are the answer to the question: “What would Michael Bloomberg do?”

The process starts when the police or an angry “ex” bring a secret star-chamber hearing under section 412.4 — demanding that the court
strip a gun owner of his Second, Fourth (unreasonable search), and Fourteenth (due process) Amendment rights. [Proposed 15 MRSA c. 16. subchapter 1 section 412.4]

We have lot of experience with these secret hearings in anti-gun
states. In Seattle, 28 of 29 petitions were granted by the court. With respect to far-less-intrusive restraining orders in Massachusetts, a liberal state legislator admitted that judges “don’t ask many questions.”

We also know that many accusers are unhinged — such as the New Mexico woman who got a restraining order against David Letterman for sending her code words over the television set. Others are vindictive. And it turns out it’s not hard to piece a couple of facts together in support of a preposterous conclusion.

In fact, in a “secret hearing” with only the angry accuser in the room, judges will typically sign the order.

And, unlike other restraining orders, there is no probable cause
requirement — and, in fact, not even a crime. And the order would not just restrain contact with a person, but, rather, strip the gun owner of entire classes of constitutional rights.

The first time a gun owner learns of this is when a police SWAT Team, that normally serves high risk arrest warrants for violent criminals, arrives at his door to immediately seize his previously lawfully-owned firearms. [section 414.3]

Section 414.3 contains “weasel words” about not creating a NEW
warrantless search. But make no mistake about it. A search warrant is easy to obtain. And there are plenty of other preexisting justifications for warrantless searches: “plain sight doctrine,” “search incident to an arrest,” “safety of the officer.”

So, yes, if the gun owner object to a “secret” order stripping him of his Second Amendment rights, you can expect police to ransack his house and, if necessary, to arrest or shoot him and his family.

After being stripped of his constitutional rights for 21 days, the gun owner is “generously” allowed the right to spend $10,000 on an attorney and try to regain his constitutional rights.

But our experience is that not many gun owners have the resources to do this, and courts are not predisposed to reverse their earlier findings.

Perfected in California as the most extreme element of the
Bloomberg/Giffords crafted agenda, these Gun Confiscation Orders are being peddled in Maine as something less than the sweeping suspension of constitutional rights that they are.

But consider this: What if the police could convene a secret hearing and shut down your newspaper for 21 days? Or arrest you for 21 days? Or torture you for 21 days?

The suspension of constitutional rights without due process is a nasty precedent which Maine gun owners would quickly regret.

So please contact your state lawmakers to oppose Gun Confiscation Orders, SP 719 and LD 1884.

In Liberty,

Michael Hammond
Legislative Counsel
Gun Owners of America

PS: GOA is fighting against Gun Confiscation Orders in Maine and across the country. Could you chip in $20, $30, or $50 to the fight?