![Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds pushed back against CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday as the two discussed gun control laws. [Screenshot CNN]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-12-at-9.21.34-PM-e1681348948510.png "Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds pushed back against CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday as the two discussed gun control laws. [Screenshot CNN]")
Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds pushed back against CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday as the two discussed gun control laws.
Tapper opened the segment playing a recent clip from Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee in which he called for removing firearms from persons with mental illness. Tapper asked Donalds for his reaction.
“The issue with red flag laws is that the U.S. citizen who somebody thinks might have mental health issues, their property is taken from them and then they have to go to court to get their property back if its found out the mental health claims are actually invalid,” Donalds said, arguing it’s a violation of individual rights.
“As you noted, you voted, when you were in the Florida legislature, against red flag laws, risk protection orders, that was in the wake of the Parkland school shooting, that was passed by the Republican led legislature and signed by Republican Governor-then Rick Scott,” Tapper said, before playing a clip from Sheriff Grady Judd who recently said risk protection orders work.
“He said they work,” Tapper said. “This conservative sheriff says that law saves lives.”
“Look, Grady Judd is a great sheriff in our state but on the implication about protecting constitutional rights, that’s where he and I disagree,” Donalds said. “Like I said, if there is a process upon which people have to go adjudicate their mental health first before their property is taken away from them, that’s one thing, but that’s not what risk protection orders do.”
“Risk protection orders take away your property, and then you have to go to court to get your property back. That is a fundamental taking under the United States Constitution,” he continued. (RELATED: ‘Please Don’t Punish Him’: Mother Of Louisville Shooter Called 9-1-1 As Mayhem Unfolded At Bank)
“I understand your point but what about the constitutional rights of those three nine year olds at Covenant School in Nashville, or the three faculty and staff members or the five individuals killed at the Louisville bank, they have the constitutional right to life and I understand your concerns about the Second Amendment rights of an individual, but don’t those rights matter less than the individual right to live?”
“Well actually Jake, I think you’re conflating ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ is in the Declaration of Independence, not the United States Constitution,” Donalds shot back. “We all want to protect life at all times but that doesn’t mean you get to abridge rights of American citizens … If you want to go through the legal process and adjudicate mental health, I’m all for that. But you can’t take somebody’s property from them and then they have to petition the court to get their stuff back. That’s the wrong way to go.”
Three children and three staff members were killed in Nashville after a transgender shooter opened fire at a Christian elementary school. A 25-year-old fatally shot five on Monday at a Louisville bank.