Red Flag Laws

 I seldom buy the local news paper, The Juneau Empire. I find it to be increasingly a liberal rag that I strongly disagree with. Like so much of what passes for news now, it's become more of a medium of left leaning commentary.  However, a week or so ago, I bought a paper because there was an article concerning the ferry. For those of us who live in Southeast Alaska, you already know what I'm talking about. The lack of ferry service has severely impacted us in terms of getting groceries and other supplies into the smaller towns which are serviced by the ferries. In any event, since I already had the paper, I figured I would see if there were any other articles that might be of interest to me. There on the front page was a picture of a teen aged girl and two women who I guess were mothers on a mission to pass a red flag law here in Alaska. I read it with concern and promptly sent an email off to my state representatives. For those not familiar with it, the red flag laws allow neighbors, family members or others to petition the court to have an individual's guns removed from them because the person feels that the individual may bring harm to themselves or others. Supposedly the guns are only taken temporarily, but you can imagine how that works out. I've read a little about the red flag laws, and on the surface they might appear to make sense. If you could stop someone from committing a crime by taking away their guns, it seems like a good thing. However, as Judge Andrew Napolotano, a contributor to Fox News mentions, the second amendment guarantees us the right to keep and bear firearms. If a person can arbitrarily decide that for whatever reason you might be dangerous and have your guns removed, it opens the door to chaos and no end of government control. The reason that we have a second amendment was to prevent tyranny from the government. If you look at places like Venezuela, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, China or any other repressive government, the every day folks don't have access to firearms. The government has complete control over their people because they can't fight back. If the Jewish population in pre-world war two had been armed, do you think they would have gone like so many sheep into the concentration camps? I don't think so. I understand the fear that so many people have concerning guns. Just today in Milwaukee there was a mass shooting by a disgruntled employee who had been fired. Whenever something like that happens, we want the government to step in and do something. I agree with the judge, if more people were trained in the proper use of fire arms and were armed, then there would be the ability to fight back. The reason schools and work places are targeted often is because no one is armed. If some of these creeps thought that someone might shoot back, I think they would think twice before attempting to start shooting up the place. That's what happened in a church a few months ago when some jerk opened fire on the folks inside and was killed by a member who was armed. It prevented a lot more people dying.  Let's face the facts, cars kill many more people in this country than guns. Should the government outlaw all private forms of transportation? Should we all have to travel in government sanctioned buses and trains so that we can stay safe? Freedom comes with a price tag. Obviously there are some folks who shouldn't own guns, but that shouldn't be determined by my neighbor or co-worker who has a beef with me. I read a book some years back about life inside a North Korean work camp. The people there were encouraged to watch their fellow workers and report anything suspicious to the government. These red flag laws smack of big brother tactics like those mentioned in George Orwell's book -1984. As the saying goes, when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. Though the intentions may be good, we're in danger of losing our freedoms should these laws become common place. As the judge mentions, if the government can violate this amendment, which amendment will be next? I hope you'll check out the app, Judge Napolotano's Chambers for a more conclusive and probably better explained view of this topic.