As a voter and supporter of Gun Owners of America and the Second Amendment, I urge you to oppose Gun Confiscation Order legislation, like House Bill 19-1177. Under this Orwellian bill, police or an angry ex could convene a “secret court” to determine whether a gun owner could lose a wide variety of constitutional rights under the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment. Already, 60-year-old Gary Willis of Ferndale, Maryland, was shot to death by police serving a “red flag” order at 5:17 a.m. -- after he, not unreasonably, came to the door with a gun in his hand. One would think that even anti-gun liberals would have a problem with giving police this much power. After all, what if authorities could get a rubber-stamped order to raid the home of suspected illegal immigrants, based on an allegation that they are “dangerous.” Those who believe late-night confrontations with police are more likely to produce fatal results for minorities might want to lay aside their hatred of guns -- and consider where the suspension of due process might lead. But, if the legislature wants to turn Colorado gun ownership into some horrible nightmare, House Bill 19-1177 is your vehicle. If not, then I ask you to vote against this. Again, I urge you to OPPOSE this legislation -- and any similar bill -- with all your ability.

Red flag gun grabs are a horrid violation of Due Process and are even opposed by the ACLU for that reason. Here's how Gun Confiscation ‘red-flag laws’ work: In general, the police or an ‘angry ex’ can make a telephone call to a judge. And, based on that telephone call, the judge can issue an order stripping a person of their Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. With no actual hearing and no due process whatsoever. And when the accused is the only one on the line, the judge will normally sign anything before him. In an analogous proceeding in New Mexico, for example, a judge issued a restraining order against David Letterman for supposedly sending coded messages to a New Mexico housewife over her TV set. So, armed with the rubber-stamped revocation of the Constitution, the police will normally arrive at your door in the middle of the night, ready to ransack your home and, if you resist, to arrest or kill you. Think this is far-fetched? Within the last few months, police summarily executed 60-year-old Ferndale, Maryland, resident Gary Willis while serving a ‘red-flag’ order at 5:17 a.m. in the morning. Sure, one can spend $10-20,000 to hire a lawyer and try to convince the judge he made a mistake. This is a fool's errand and it turns our system of justice on its head. The government should prove that people are guilty; it shouldn't be individuals proving they are innocent. I agree with Gun Owners of America that Red Flag gun grabs such as House Bill 19-1177 are horrid legislation. And I urge you to do everything in your power to defeat them.

I stand with Gun Owners of America in opposition to so-called “red flag” proposals like House Bill 19-1177. These so-called proposals, properly known as “Gun Confiscation Orders” give great precedent to be abused. Already, one honest man has been killed by Maryland police when they arrived at his home at 5:17 am in the morning to retrieve his firearms. This man had no idea that a gun confiscation order had been executed against him because the entire series of events that led to his execution lacked DUE PROCESS! There was no trial by jury … no facing of his accuser … no defense attorney to represent him. There is no due process if the individual isn’t part of the process! I urge you to stand firm for the Second and Fifth Amendments and protect the foundational principles of our country -- and reject proposed red flag laws in any and all forms.

Please oppose all red flag Gun Confiscation Orders, as legislation such as House Bill 19-1177 is a horrible infringement of Due Process rights, not to mention the Second Amendment. Gun Confiscation Orders are being pushed by Michael Bloomberg and people who hate guns for the sole purpose of taking us one step closer to the time when all guns are banned from private ownership. And these laws will not stop crazies or criminals from getting guns. Gun Confiscation laws didn’t stop massacres in Newtown, Connecticut or Thousand Oaks, California. And they couldn’t have stopped massacres in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs. Even in Parkland, the shooter was rated by police as “low risk,” thereby precluding any possibility of getting a Gun Confiscation Order against him. So please oppose Gun Confiscation Order bills like House Bill 19-1177. They are ineffective, they trash Due Process, and they infringe the Second Amendment. Gun Owners of America will let me know how you vote.

I urge you to oppose Red Flag “Gun Confiscation Orders,” like House Bill 19-1177. These Gun Confiscation Orders -- sugar-coated as “ERPOs” or “red flag laws” -- aren’t being pushed to prevent suicides or protect the public. After all, these laws don’t make people safer. Consider that a study by criminologist John Lott found that these Gun Confiscation ‘red-flag’ orders had absolutely no effect in the states where they were law -- except, maybe to INCREASE the incidence of rape. Gun Owners of America has pointed out that Gun Confiscation Orders didn't stop the shooting at Newtown, Connecticut. They didn't stop the shooting at Thousand Oaks, California. They didn't stop the shooting at Aurora, Illinois. And they wouldn't have stopped the shooting at Parkland for the simple reason that, as often as the police visited the shooter's home, they failed to exercise remedies which were already on the table because they viewed him as ‘a low risk.’ NEWS FLASH: If the police are on record as saying a gun owner is ‘a low risk,’ it will be impossible to get a ‘red-flag’ Gun Confiscation Order. So please oppose red flag Gun Confiscation Orders, such as House Bill 19-1177.