A majority of independents and Republicans believe “red flag” gun laws will likely be abused by the government as the Senate works to clear a bipartisan package including such laws, a new poll reveals.
The Trafalgar Group and Convention of States Action conducted a survey and asked participants whether they believe “‘red flag’ gun control laws designed to temporarily take guns away from individuals has the potential to be abused by local authorities and government officials to disarm their political opponents and/or citizens who disagree with them?”
Among all the respondents, 46.7% said “yes” while 22.5% said they were unsure. Roughly 30% said “no.”
When broken down along political parties, 16.4% of Democrats said “yes,” 30.1% said “not sure” and 53.5% said “no.”
Republicans overwhelmingly thought the laws were open for abuse, with 72.2% saying “yes” and just 14.1% saying “no.” Independents similarly believed the laws have potential for abuse, with 52.3% responding “yes” and 24.3% saying “not sure.”
The survey was conducted between June 16 and June 19 amongst 1,084 respondents with a +/- 2.9% margin of error. (RELATED: ‘Law Abiding Folks Shouldn’t Have Any Fears,’ Republican Rep. Fred Upton Claims About Gun Control Bill)
“Americans want real, workable solutions to the mass shootings we are seeing in this nation, but it’s obvious that they don’t see the proposed ‘red flag’ laws as the answer,” President of Convention of States Action Mark Meckler said in a statement. “Government officials at all levels have spent the last two years demonizing their opponents and using whatever means possible to censor or threaten those who disagree with them, so the idea that we should now trust those same people to not abuse a law that could infringe on basic constitutional rights is laughable.”
“More and more Americans are coming to the conclusion that the government abuses any power it’s given, and they are responding accordingly,” he continued.
The Senate voted 64-34 Tuesday to start debate on a bipartisan gun control package that includes $750 million that would in part help states implement “extreme risk protection order programs,” also known as red flag laws. These laws allow a court to confiscate a firearm from an individual who is believed to pose a violent threat.
The ten GOP Senators who signed onto the gun control deal that included funding for red flag laws:
Blunt
Burr
Portman
Toomey
Cornyn
Tillis
Cassidy
Collins
Graham
RomneyRepublicans who just joined to advance it:
Murkowski
Capito
Ernst
McConnell
Young.— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 22, 2022
In the Supreme Court case of Canglia v. Strom, the high court ruled seizing a citizen’s gun violates search and seizure rights protected under the Fourth Amendment.