House Freedom Caucus Releases Statement Opposing Red Flag Laws

Red flag laws permit the preemptive seizure of firearms from Americans without due process by allowing any person to report a gunowner to law enforcement and petition for the confiscation of that individual’s firearms, even before the gunowner has an opportunity to defend themselves. As a result, experts have found that one-third of confiscation orders were wrongly issued against innocent Americans, and it often takes a tremendous effort to overturn. These laws are ripe for abuse as they give government the power to decide who is deemed mentally fit to own a firearm based on the say-so of any accuser, and that should concern every American as some Democrats have already signaled their intention to use red flag laws to target gunowners based on their political beliefs. Furthermore, studies have found that states’ red flag laws have had no significant impact on murder and suicide rates, or the number of people killed in mass shootings. States already have laws known as “Baker Acts” that allow for the temporary detention of individuals believed to be dangerous; not only do these existing statutes respect due process, but they address the obvious cause of violence by removing the dangerous individual from society without violating constitutional rights.

The House Freedom Caucus will oppose any legislation that implements, funds, or expands unconstitutional and ineffective red flag laws.

Additionally, the House Freedom Caucus is concerned the Senate’s framework could include provisions to criminalize private firearms transfers by enacting backdoor universal background checks or establish federal grant programs designed to incentivize states undermining the Second Amendment. The House Freedom Caucus calls on Republican Senators to use every procedural tool at their disposal to ensure Members of Congress are granted sufficient time to study and analyze any legislative text that emerges from the Senate’s negotiations.