Colorado Dems Advance Dangerous Expansion to State’s ‘Red Flag’ Law

The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him,” but that right to confrontation doesn’t apply in civil cases. Colorado Democrats are taking full advantage of that loophole by advancing an expansion of the state’s “red flag” law to allow for so-called institutional petitions, reducing accountability and opening the door for false allegations to go unpunished. 

As Bearing Arms previously reported, SB26-004 enables “institutional petitioners” like health care facilities, behavioral health facilities, and schools, to the already expansive list of individuals that can petition a court for an Extreme Risk Protection Order. Under Colorado’s current “red flag” law, individuals who knowingly falsify information in an ERPO petition can face misdemeanor charges punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. But how can that be enforced when it’s an institution, not an individual, who files the petition? 

That question is still unresolved, but Senate Democrats apparently weren’t bothered by the lack of accountability. On Tuesday the Colorado Senate approved SB 4 along mostly party lines, with just one Democrat in opposition along with the entirety of the Republican caucus.

Republicans warned that the bill would erode Second Amendment rights and due process protections because people could face a red flag petition without having any criminal convictions. Sen. Lynda Zamora Wilson, an Air Force veteran, worried the bill would dissuade gun owners from seeking mental health help because the institution providing it could request that they lose access to their firearms.

Research from New York indicates that is the case, with about 9% of gun owners saying they would be less likely to seek mental health treatment, and about 23% who would be less willing to report mental health symptoms and behaviors that concerned them. 

Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat and sponsor of the bill, accused opponents of playing “Chicken Little” by constantly warning the sky would fall on gun rights. The original red flag law went into effect six years ago. In that time, officials have gathered ample evidence to show the law hasn’t resulted in widespread confiscation, he said.

That may be true, but it also hasn’t generated enough gun confiscations for Sullivan and other “red flag” supporters. Why else would they expand who can initiate a petition? The 700 or so ERPO petitions that have been filed in Colorado since the law originally took effect six years ago is clearly not enough for them, which is why Democrats previously expanded the pool of individuals eligible to file a petition from the original family, household members, and law enforcement to include licensed medical care providers, licensed mental health-care providers, licensed educators, and district attorneys.

The last expansion took place in 2023, and apparently didn’t generate enough new ERPOs that “red flag” supporters are already back for more. 

I highly doubt that House Democrats are going to do anything to substantively improve SB 4, but I really do hope that Republicans can get the sponsors to explain how exactly the subject of a petition is supposed to get justice if someone hides behind the institution they work for and files a false petition. 

The fact that fewer gun owners will seek mental health treatment for fear of losing their Second Amendment rights is troubling enough, though for Democrats it’s a feature, not a bug. Colorado is already suffering from an acute crisis in both outpatient and inpatient mental health care that’s been largely unaddressed by the Democrat-controlled legislature, so Democrat lawmakers arguably have an incentive to keep people away from seeking help for their mental health. 

The erosion of accountability in SB 4, though, is dangerous in its own right. ERPOs may be civil proceedings, but at the very least the spirit of the Sixth Amendment is being violated here, along with the spirit of the Second Amendment. Someone who’s being accused such a danger to themselves or others that they can’t own a gun should be able to know who, exactly, is making that accusation, but many of these petitions will soon be unfairly shrouded in anonymity. 

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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