Something I'm in favor of

 

I'm in favor of a lot of gun control measures, but one that I think makes a LOT of sense (and apparently there is agreement from both Republicans and Democrats on this, which is mildly astonishing) is better "red flag" laws.

A red-flag law is a law that allows guns to be legally taken away from someone deemed a danger to themselves or others, and also flags them from making gun purchases.  Clearly this wouldn't prevent a lot of gun violence and gun deaths, but it would contribute to a reduction in mass shootings.  Anyone with kids in schools or college, or where people work in groups, or offices, or people that go to concerts, or church, or members of ethnic or racial groups that have been in the news ... well, it covers a lot of situations that people might favor someone NOT having a gun; especially when somebody with a mental illness or illnesses, and anger issues, and judgment issues, and maybe many other kinds of issues, might decide that shooting a bunch of people would help their condition. 

So here's an article about that.

Boulder and Atlanta shootings rekindle debate over red-flag gun laws

"Red-flag laws work by allowing household members or law enforcement officers to seek an “extreme risk protection order” barring a person’s access to guns if they believe that person poses an immediate threat to themselves or others. With a judge’s permission, authorities can seize firearms from someone deemed high risk for up to a year in most places. The orders are modeled after domestic violence protection orders and are civil, not criminal."

And more:

"Research has also showed that red-flag laws can be especially effective in preventing suicides by firearm. One recent study found that firearm suicides dropped in Connecticut and Indiana, two of the earliest states to adopt the laws, by 13.7 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively.

Those findings have helped buoy red-flag laws, which polls show enjoy wide public support. Experts say the policies are more popular than most other gun-control proposals in part because they target potentially dangerous behavior rather than gun ownership itself — making them less of a lightning rod in Second Amendment debates."

So enough already.  Let's stop talking about it and just do it.