Posted on 12/10/2019 6:49:23 PM PST by dontreadthis
A man from Deerfield Beach, Florida, faces a potential of five years in prison after being convicted for defying the state’s “red flag” law, which allows authorities to confiscate weapons from those deemed to be at high risk of committing a crime. The case is the first conviction under the state’s relatively new gun law, which was passed in part as a response to the horrific mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Since the red flag law went into effect in March 2018, Florida has seized guns from over 2,000 residents of the state. But while the state has taken thousands of weapons, it has not convicted anyone for violating the law — until this week. As reported by the Sun Sentinel, after being charged in March 2018 under the law for refusing to hand over his firearms, Jerron Smith, 33, was convicted by a Broward Circuit court this week on charges carrying as many as five years in prison.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailywire.com ...
Read the article. The guy is an idiot who does not have the sense to get in from the rain. And going by the article that is being generous. He only shot at a guy in a car because of an argument over a cell phone.
Exactly. He should be up on charges for shooting up his buddy’s car. After he might be convicted, the usual procedure would be intact to see to it no one sells him a gun.
But then again, I think any man who can walk around free should be allowed to carry a gun. If he can’t be trusted to carry a gun, he should not be walking around free.
Yikes,
as I said, I’m not defending him.
I guess the bond rules and stuff probably would have taken a judge, more paperwork, etc. And why use old-fashioned stuff like that when you can use your shiny new rules and just declare he shouldn’t have guns and then take them away.
In my local area we had some 23(?) year old post stupid stuff on his social media. Posed with a rifle and pistol and said “One ticket to the Joker movie please!” Then the cops went through all of his posts. Found one from 2016 that said “Death to all women” or something.
No criminal record, but they took his guns.
I think it took a few weeks, but a judge said the guy was no threat and gave him back the guns. But I was surprised to hear that since we have these laws in our area (Jan. 1, 2019?) that our town of 40,000 has had 9 people with their guns taken, and 2 that upon review by a judge the guns were kept. But nobody was ever charged with a crime! Although IIRC, the people that had their guns kept from them get a review after a year?
It’s saying the guy got railroaded with unconstitutional laws.
The purpose of a Red Flag law is to prevent murders.
Is it working? I have heard nothing.
Florida has 18 months of data.
If the murder rate went down, wouldn’t Florida and other states be bragging about it?
Was the car driving towards or away from the guy? Maybe he thought his “friend” was trying to run him over.
“incomplete”
He was probably shooting in self defense. Car may have been heading towards him.
First, if he did shoot at a car driven by a friend in an argument over a cell phone, he should have been arrested. I would support sending him to jail if that claim can be proven, and, while locked up, he would be appropriately disarmed.
Second, there is no reason to trust the police when they claim you do not have a right to an attorney. His dispute appears to be that he wanted an attorney present before the thugs violated his God-given Second Amendment rights by confiscating his firearms. That insistence strikes me as reasonable - whether or not the law provides such a protection.
If both sets of facts are true as reported, I would vote guilty on the shooting and not guilty on violating the unconstitutional Red Flag laws.
Sounds like they’re looking for an instance to enact this law....so they can apply it more often, for far less “offenses”.
Funny how they can’t handle folks preparing for mass shootings, despite actual evidence out there, but can take someone else’s word about a law-abiding citizen...who previously shot at someone over a “cellphone incident”.....would be interesting to see folks on either side of this do a debate on why it’s right or why it’s wrong...
I get your point, but this guy isn’t the best case to challenge red flag laws. It’s about more than his case, and his is weak.
I guess we’re talking apples and oranges here.
He was convicted for violating a court order and refusing to comply with a search warrant. The court order had a specific enhanced penalty for violating it. It was his intent to violate it until officers complied with his terms for the search.
Everything else is kinda secondary. Even if the law FOR the court order was tossed out tomorrow, he’s still behind bars without anything appealable.
The place to argue judicial orders is in a courtroom, not a porch. No appellate court or SCOTUS is going to change that basic reality. State your case in court, seek claims for damages in court, but the street is not a courtroom. And the jury agreed.
They rarely are. Miranda was not someone you'd want your daughter to bring home for dinner. They always pick the most unsympathetic people to lay down the precedent for laws like this. I don't care what this guy did. If they can't convict him for an actual crime, they need to leave him alone. Everyone supporting his incarceration for not giving up his guns is no friend of the 2nd Amendment.
Maybe not, but how many people should get deprived of their rights while we wait for a perfect case to support?
No, they don’t, but this is NOT the case to take to the Supreme Court.
I read where he was accused of that, but I must have missed the part where he was convicted.
I agree, he should have been charged for the actual crime, not RF. That said, I would prefer a test case that includes no underlying felonies.
You would be wrong if you meant to imply I am no friend of RKBA.
I think even with the new rule, a judge is required.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.