Red flagging has been going on for a long while, even without so-called "red flag" laws. A couple of stories...I'm a retired psychologist and in the course of my career, I performed dozens of evaluations to determine dangerousness to self and others. I provided therapy for clients whose guns were taken from them. The decision to do so could be based on diagnosis, behavior, or, simply, circumstance. The judge has sole discretion and sometimes runs contrary to the recommendations of mental health professionals. Therapy is court ordered and usually a waste of time.
I once conducted an evaluation on a man whose only crime was making an illegal u-turn. The police pulled him over and saw in the seat of his car a shiny nickel-plated .357 revolver. It was legally owned and he broke no laws having it in his car. Using the presence of the pistol as probable cause, they searched his car and found a box with $16,000 cash in it. They assumed he must be involved in drugs with the pistol and a large amount of cash, so detained him and confiscated everything. Keep in mind he never broke any law except the traffic violation. I won't discuss the reasons he had the money and gun, but it was all perfectly legal and private, which is why I won't share it here. The rest of this info I've shared is public record. He was adjudicated as not dangerous, released, and all his property returned to him. But, he spent time in jail and subjected to interrogation by police and forced to go through a psych eval, which I provided. This was done to an innocent man without reds flag laws. Imagine what will happen with red flags.
I once conducted an evaluation on a man whose only crime was making an illegal u-turn. The police pulled him over and saw in the seat of his car a shiny nickel-plated .357 revolver. It was legally owned and he broke no laws having it in his car. Using the presence of the pistol as probable cause, they searched his car and found a box with $16,000 cash in it. They assumed he must be involved in drugs with the pistol and a large amount of cash, so detained him and confiscated everything. Keep in mind he never broke any law except the traffic violation. I won't discuss the reasons he had the money and gun, but it was all perfectly legal and private, which is why I won't share it here. The rest of this info I've shared is public record. He was adjudicated as not dangerous, released, and all his property returned to him. But, he spent time in jail and subjected to interrogation by police and forced to go through a psych eval, which I provided. This was done to an innocent man without reds flag laws. Imagine what will happen with red flags.