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It Begins: Police Now Confiscating Guns From People With No Due Process

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In what’s being called the first gun confiscation of its kind in Florida, police have taken four guns and a couple hundred rounds of ammunition from a 56-year-old Lighthouse Point man. The man was not tried, had not committed a crime, and the guns were solely removed because “experts” deemed him a threat.

The guns and ammunition have been temporarily removed from the man under the state’s new “risk protection” law, which is also sometimes called “red flag” legislation, Lighthouse Point City Attorney Michael Cirullo confirmed, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

“We know it’s the first case of its kind in Broward County and we think it’s the first one in Florida, under the new law,” Cirullo said. “Up until the introduction of this law last week, there was no process for us to protect the public in this kind of situation.”

In Florida, prior to passing the new gun control law, people deemed psychologically unfit could be involuntarily hospitalized under what is called the Baker Act. During this involuntary admission to a hospital, the person is evaluated to determine if they are a risk to themselves or others.

Only after they had been psychologically evaluated and deemed a threat could the government then move in to temporarily disarm them. Now, however, this tiny bit of due process is no longer necessary and “experts” can simply deem someone a threat and take their guns.

Although the 56-year-old man was subsequently Baker Act-ed, his guns were taken before this happened.

To illustrate the insidious nature of Florida’s new bill and its rights-violating implications, prior to the new legislation, if police would have done what they did to this 56-year-old man—taken his guns with no due process—they would be fired and fined up to $5,000.

It is important to note that this man was certainly acting strangely and, according to the Sun-Sentinel, he told officers he “was being targeted and burglarized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a neighbor who lives in (his) building,” the judge wrote in his order. “(He) could not describe the neighbor but stated that the neighbor ‘shape shift, he can change heights and I’m not sure where he comes from’ and ‘to be honest, he looks like Osama Bin Laden.’”

He also turned off all of his power to the apartment he lived in. By all means, he was acting very strangely. However, he still deserved due process.

It will now be up to the man to prove that he is healthy enough to ever be able to get his guns back again.

To be clear, no one here is advocating for people determined to be mentally unfit to be able to possess firearms. However, they need to be determined to be mentally unfit before they lose their rights.

This law was a reaction to the shooting in Parkland, however, it is important to point out that there were already laws on the books that should’ve stopped Nikolas Cruz from ever getting a gun. Citing Cruz as the reason for advocating the removal of due process, the anti-gun activists are claiming he should’ve had his guns taken which would have prevented the tragedy. Sadly, however, they are ignoring the fact that he was accused of multiple felonies—and should’ve never been able to purchase a gun in the first place—but law enforcement failed to act on any of it.

In Florida, if a person making death threats intends for the victim to fear for her safety, specifically fearful of death or bodily harm, it is considered a credible threat under the law, which changes the crime from stalking, a first-degree misdemeanor, to aggravated stalking, a felony of the third degree. Cruz was reported at least 4 times for this very crime before he bought his AR-15 and police did nothing.

Florida’s law also mirrors another due process-removing law that was recently used in Washington state to remove a man’s guns.

As TFTP reported earlier this month, there is a law on the books known as the Extreme Risk Protection Order or ERPO, which went into effect in June of 2017. This law is used when a person is considered an “extreme” threat as reported by police and family members. An ERPO must be approved by a judge and only after this person is proven to be a danger to themselves or others can police move in to confiscate their weapons.

“We now have to go to someone’s house and knock on the door and say, ‘We’re from the government. Can we have your guns?’” Seattle police Sgt. Eric Pisconski told KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross. “That can get very dangerous.”

While touted as a necessary tool for police, an ERPO and Florida’s new law both remove due process as the person who is accused of being mentally unstable does not have to be present and gets no chance of facing their accuser.

To those who may be in favor of such laws, consider the following: There is no way to stop an estranged spouse from call police repeatedly and telling them their ex is threatening to cause harm to others. While the man in Florida had his guns taken for being psychologically unfit, the man in Seattle simply open-carried a pistol and looked out of windows and his guns were taken because his neighbors thought it was strange.

Anyone, any time, now has the ability to claim someone else is a threat and have police take their guns. One does not need to delve into the multiple ‘what if’ scenarios to see what sort of ominous implications arise from such a practice. What’s more, police now have the power to deem you a threat at any time and legally disarm you—due process be damned.

This is the exact scenario that Donald Trump advocated for in February. Last month, notorious gun-grabber Senator Dianne Feinstein, sat next to Donald Trump and likely salivated over his remarks as he called for the removal of due process and to “take the guns first.” Now, police are doing just that.

To those that support the removal of due process under the ostensible notion that it would make you safer, you would do well to remember history before you or someone you know finds yourself subject to these very laws. (For more from the author of “It Begins: Florida Police Now Confiscating Guns From People With No Due Process” please click HERE)

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Father of Parkland Victim Hits Walkout Students With Bombshell Message

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As students across the nation organized a school walkout this week to commemorate the passage of one month since a deadly shooting left 17 dead at a Florida high school, the father of one victim offered his advice to the young demonstrators determined to reduce gun violence.

“Instead of walking out of school on March 14, encourage students to walk up,” Ryan Petty tweeted earlier this week.

His daughter, Alaina, was among those killed when a gunman opened fire on the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland last month.

According to the grieving father, a walkout will provide participants with an opportunity to exercise their bodies and their constitutional rights. However, he suggested a more significant reaction would include reaching out to their peers in kindness and acceptance.

Petty encouraged students to “walk up to the kid who sits a lone (sic) and invite him to sit with your group” and similarly approach others in need of positive interaction.

His post mentioned “the kid who sits quietly in the corner of the room” and “the kid who causes disturbances in class” as the types of children who could be helped by a compassionate classmate.

In general, Petty stressed the pursuit of unity over division as a key step toward realizing the ultimate goal of a safer society.

“Walk up to your teachers and thank them; walk up to someone who has different views than you and get to know them — you may be surprised at how much you have in common,” he wrote.

The post ended with a call to action Petty framed as a meaningful way to memorialize the lives lost last month in Parkland.

“Build on that foundation instead of casting stones,” he wrote. “I challenge students to find 14 students and 3 adults to walk up to and say something nice in honor of those who died in FL on the 14 of March. But you can start practicing now!”

In an interview with WBUR, Petty shared a few other ideas he believes could help secure the nation’s schools.

“We’re going to take these soft targets — the schools are soft targets. We’ve got to change that,” he said. “We’ve got to keep guns out of the hands of people that want to hurt themselves and hurt other people. And I think, in this case, in particular, there were signs that the shooter wanted to hurt other people.”

While many of the students to emerge as activists in the wake of the Feb. 14 massacre have focused their attention on gun control as a method to prevent school shootings, others have also echoed Petty’s advocacy of kindness.

During Wednesday’s walkout at a high school in Washington state, the lone demonstrator to address the student body expressed a similar theme.

“You should say that you love your neighbor,” Angelica Mansfield told her peers. “You should be there for them, sit with them at lunch, tell them that you’re their friend, that you’re going to be there for them whenever they need you.” (For more from the author of “Father of Parkland Victim Hits Walkout Students With Bombshell Message” please click HERE)

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Students Trash Walmart During Gun Walkout

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By Fox 5. Chicago police are trying to identify the dozens of students from Simeon Career Academy who they say took part in a vandalism spree while they were supposed to be protesting guns.

Shoppers and store employees were stunned by the destruction Wednesday morning at the Walmart in Chatham Market on the South Side.

Chicago police say it started when students at neighboring Simeon Career Academy were allowed to leave the school for 17 minutes to take part in the nationwide walkout to protest guns.

Police say between 40 and 60 of those students crossed the street and trashed parts of the store, knocking over product displays, yanking items off shelves, breaking packages and stealing small items like chips and candy . . .

Some of the students that FOX 32 talked to at Simeon say they’re angry that a walkout intended to promote peace instead led to vandalism and violence. (Read more from “Students Trash Walmart During Gun Walkout” HERE)

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Ohio Student Suspended for Refusing to Leave Classroom During Gun Control Walkout

By IJR. A high school student in Hilliard, Ohio, didn’t want to pick sides in the contentious gun debate surrounding Wednesday’s “National Walkout,” so he stayed in class instead of joining the largely anti-gun protest or an alternative “study hall.”

Hilliard Davidson High School senior Jacob Shoemaker was then reportedly slapped with a suspension.

The student argued that divisive politics have no place in America’s schools and he refused to take sides in the debate, according to the Associated Press.

Shoemaker’s suspension citation was posted online, possibly by a friend, and the story quickly went viral. (Read more from “Ohio Student Suspended for Refusing to Leave Classroom During Gun Control Walkout” HERE)

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Student Dares Stand up and Tell Walkout Protesters What They Should Really Be Doing

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Students across the U.S. walked out of school Wednesday for a nationwide demonstration in memory of the 17 students and faculty killed one month earlier in a mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

While many of the young activists pointed to gun control as a response to continued acts of school violence, some offered alternative or additional steps in pursuit of the same goal.

One student in Washington state expressed her desire to see peers embrace kindness and acceptance, shunning the culture of bullying she believes contributes to the deadly behavior of school shooters.

As iFIBER One News reported, Angelica Mansfield was the only student from a group of about 200 at Moses Lake High School to address the entire local group during this week’s walkout.

In her fiery statement, she chided other students for failing to similarly turn their outrage into action, as reported by KING.

“Before we just stand here for 17 minutes and don’t do nothing, because that’s what we’re going to do right now, I just wanted to say, like, we’re out there for a shooting — school shootings — you guys are all at a school, OK?” she said.

As Mansfield told her schoolmates, massacres like the one in Florida last month “are happening from these kids that you guys are cornering out, that you’re bullying, that you’re doing all this stuff to because you think it’s funny.”

She went on to insist that the issue of bullying is very serious and has led to deadly consequences.

“All of these kids just want to be themselves, they want to be who they want to be in their own school,” she said. “They’re here to learn. They’re not here to bully. Kids shouldn’t be shooting up schools; we’re teenagers.”

Instead of further belittling victims of bullying and those dealing with emotional issues, Mansfield challenged her peers to rise above that reaction to demonstrate empathy and friendship to kids who need it most.

“You should say that you love your neighbor,” she said. “You should be there for them, sit with them at lunch, tell them that you’re their friend, that you’re going to be there for them whenever they need you.”

Even if a personal struggle is not immediately obvious, Mansfield said everyone can benefit from such expressions of kindness.

“Just because they’re already dealing with bullying at school enough, and they have their own problems at home whether you know it or not,” she said. “Everybody does and I don’t know why it’s so hard to be nice and care and love each other. Like, it’s not hard.”

The student acknowledged that some walkout participants would laugh at her for sharing her thoughts, but she remained undeterred.

“I don’t care, because somebody said something while we were out here,” she said. “Somebody stood up.”

Though she apologized for appearing mad and speaking “aggressively,” Mansfield did not shy away from her decision to speak out when given the opportunity.

“Most of you are out here because you don’t want to be in class,” she said. “That’s it. Like, it’s stupid.” (For more from the author of “Student Dares Stand up and Tell Walkout Protesters What They Should Really Be Doing” please click HERE)

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School District Punishing Hundreds of Students Who Participated in Walkout

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A school district in South Carolina said students who walked out of class earlier this week as part of the nationwide walkouts will be cited for cutting class, the Associated Press reported.

About 530 students participated in walkouts at about 12 high schools in the Greenville County School district, the largest school district in South Carolina, spokeswoman Beth Brotherton said.

Ahead of the walkout, school officials had said they were cautioning students against taking part, according to the AP.

Students across the country walked out of their classrooms Wednesday to protest gun violence and demand change. (Read more from “School District Punishing Hundreds of Students Who Participated in Walkout” HERE)

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Student Video Goes Viral for Being Lone Participant in School’s National School Walkout

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A video from a North Carolina high school student went viral Wednesday after the 16-year-old filmed himself as the only student from his school participating in National Walkout Day, The Hill reported.

Justin Blackman, 16, was the only one at Wilson Preparatory Academy, which is east of Raleigh, to participate in the nation-wide movement organized in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Florida.

“It’s National Walkout Day,” Blackman says in a video he tweeted. “I’m the only one in my school out here. No one here but me. They didn’t really get into it too much. No one really said anything.”

Despite being alone in the protest, Blackman received support on social media from celebrities and gun reform advocates . . .

By Wednesday evening Blackman’s video had been viewed more than 3.87 million times and retweeted 42,000 times and liked more than 212,000 times. (Read more from “Student Video Goes Viral for Being Lone Participant in School’s National School Walkout” HERE)

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Justice: Dick’s Blindsided by Lawsuit Just Days After Banning AR-15s

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Just days after Dick’s Sporting Goods announced that it would no longer be selling the AR-15, an Oregon man sued the store and Walmart for refusing to sell him a rifle.

Twenty-year-old Tyler Watson claimed that the stores discriminated against him because of his age, according to the New York Post.

Although Oregon law allows people to purchase shotguns or rifles at the age of 18, Dick’s and Walmart raised the age to purchase firearms from their stores to 21 after the Feb. 14 school shooting.

Watson said that he faced age discrimination when he tried to buy a .22-caliber Ruger rifle from Field & Stream, owned by Dick’s Sporting Goods, on Feb. 24, four days before the sporting goods store’s announcement that it was not going to sell firearms to anyone under 21. Walmart made a similar announcement on the same day.

After he was denied the purchase at Field & Stream, Watson went to Walmart and was also told he couldn’t buy the rifle.

“In light of recent events, we reviewed our policy on firearm sales,” Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove told The Oregonian. “As a result, we raised the age restriction for the purchase of firearms and ammunition to 21 years of age. We stand behind our decision and plan to defend it. While we haven’t seen the complaint, we will respond as appropriate with the court.”

Watson’s attorney, Max Whittington, said that his client didn’t know about the policy when he went to make his purchase.

“He was really just trying to buy a rifle,” Whittington said.

In the lawsuit, Watson says that the new policies violate Oregon laws that protect residents against discrimination based on “race, religion, sexual orientation or age.”

The statutes add that the state can ban alcohol or marijuana sales based on age, but does not mention firearm sales, according to The Oregonian.

Watson wants Dick’s Sporting Goods and Walmart “to stop unlawfully discriminating against 18, 19, and 20 year-old customers at all Oregon locations.”

During the announcement of their new policy, Dick’s Sporting Goods also revealed that the shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School had actually purchased a firearm from one of its stores. However, the sporting goods retailer noted that the firearm purchased at one of its locations was not one used in the shooting.

The retailer said in a statement, “Clearly this indicates on so many levels that the systems in place are not effective to protect our kids and our citizens.”

CEO and chairman Edward Stack appeared on “Good Morning America” Wednesday to discuss the company’s freshly implemented policy.

When asked to explain the rationale behind the recent change, Stack responded, assuring viewers that his company “did everything by the book.”

“We did everything that the law required and still he was able to buy a gun,” he continued. “When we looked at that, we said, ‘The systems that are in place across the board just aren’t effective enough to keep us from selling someone a gun like that.’” (For more from the author of “Justice: Dick’s Blindsided by Lawsuit Just Days After Banning AR-15s” please click HERE)

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After Florida Shooting, More Than 600 Copycat Threats Have Targeted Schools

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Breathless and whispering through the phone, a 13-year-old student called for help from her Ohio high school.

“Help,” she said in between whimpers. “He’s got a gun. He’s got the gun in my mouth.” . . .

But it was all a hoax.

It’s a stunt that other teens and kids across the nation have pulled after tragedies, creating fear in communities and bringing costly investigations by police and federal agents who have no choice but to take the threats with deadly seriousness. . .

More than 130 threats were reported and analyzed by the USA TODAY NETWORK in the nine-day span after the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland left 17 dead. Also, non-profits such as the Educator’s School Safety Network have compiled a list of the threats using news media reports. The group found that a jarring 638 threats targeted schools in the two weeks after the Parkland shootings, a number they say is probably on the low side. (Read more from “After Florida Shooting, More Than 600 Copycat Threats Have Targeted Schools” HERE)

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Ex-California State Sen. Leland Yee, Gun Control Champion, Heading to Prison for Weapons Trafficking

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. . .From 2006 onwards, Yee served as a state senator and was plotting a secretary of state campaign when his political visions were curtailed by a federal indictment in March 2014 . . .

It was one thing for the public to learn that Chow, a known convict, may have become embroiled in more objectionable schemes. But it was quite another to hear that Yee, a respected public figure who had supposedly distanced himself from San Francisco’s corrupt past, was being accused through the same undercover FBI investigation.

This Wednesday, Yee received a five-year prison sentence for accepting bribes and trafficking in arms . . .

Breyer was unsympathetic to the calls for leniency. While holding public office, Yee had accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions in exchange for political favors. And on the side, he and two associates had been involved in a weapons trafficking plot. (Read more from “Ex-California State Sen. Leland Yee, Gun Control Champion, Heading to Prison for Weapons Trafficking” HERE)

Senate Passes Bill Allowing Some Teachers to Carry Guns in Schools

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In the wake of the deadly mass shooting at a high school in Parkland last month, the Florida Senate passed a bill on Monday that would create new restrictions on gun sales, and also allow some teachers to carry guns into schools.

The Senate narrowly approved the bill 20-18 after legislators debated the heated topic during an emotional three hours, as both Democrats and Republicans said there were parts of the bill they didn’t agree with.

“Do I think this bill goes far enough? No! No, I don’t!” Democratic Sen. Lauren Book said, describing what it was like to visit Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after 17 people were killed there on Valentine’s Day.

“I cannot live with a choice to put party politics above an opportunity to get something done that inches us closer to the place I believe we should be as a state,” she said. “This is the first step in saying never again” . . .

Democrats didn’t like the idea of letting teachers carry guns, even if the bill was amended to water down that proposed program. And many pro-gun rights Republicans didn’t like the idea of raising the minimum age to buy rifles from 18 to 21 and to create a waiting period on sales of the weapons. (Read more from “Senate Passes Bill Allowing Some Teachers to Carry Guns in Schools” HERE)

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