CA Democrats Expand Red Flag Law Again, Lengthen Confiscatory Period

Democrats expanded California’s Red Flag Law again by lengthening the confiscatory period and broadening the number of people who can push for confiscation to begin with.

California’s Red Flag statute is referred to as a Gun Violence Restraining Order. The orders were adopted in 2016, after being pushed as a means of temporarily taking guns away from dangerous people. The confiscatory period was one year when the orders first became law, but the Associated Press reports that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill Friday that allows the confiscatory period to expand to five years.

Moreover, the bill signed by Newsom allows “employers, co-workers and teachers to seek gun violence restraining orders against other people.” Gun Violence Restraining Orders originally only allowed family members to seek confiscatory orders against an individual.

The lengthening of the confiscatory period and the broadening of those who can seek is at least the third expansion of California’s Red Flag Law in as many years.

For example, in late 2018, California Democrat lawmakers complained that not enough family members were availing themselves of the confiscatory law. On September 19, 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported that Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer wanted a public campaign to encourage more people to pursue such orders against family members.

Democrat lawmakers responded to Feuer and others by putting forward changes making it easier to get an order to confiscate guns from an individual. On September 29, 2018, Reuters reported that Gov. Brown signed the changes.

On January 1, 2019, changes took effect that broadened California’s confiscatory law so as to include ammunition and certain magazines. KRCR reported that the changes “[add] ammunition and bullet drums to the list of items related to firearms that can be confiscated.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.