Advisor for 97% Hails Florida ‘Red Flag’ Law As Model of Success

Thanks to Attorney General James Uthmeier, a couple of the gun control laws put in place after the Parkland shooting in 2018 are in the process of being undone. Florida’s waiting period, for example, which was first put in place for handguns several decades ago and expanded in 2018, could soon be a thing of the past, along with the state’s ban on concealed carry for adults under the age of 21. 

The state’s “red flag” law, however, is still fully functional. 97 Percent advisor and retired detective Christopher Carita argues in a new op-ed, the law is such a success that other states should be emulating its provisions, but his metric seems based primarily on the frequency of petitions being filed. 

And it works. Nearly 4,700 RPO petitions were filed in the first two years alone. Judicial approval rates exceed 95% for temporary orders. Law enforcement agencies across politically diverse counties, from South Florida to the Panhandle, file at comparable rates. Half of respondents stipulate, agreeing to the order without a legal fight. These are not the numbers you would expect from a “restrictive” law in a “gun-friendly” state, which is precisely why they rarely show up in the national conversation about what a good ERPO policy looks like.

I dunno. 4,700 Extreme Risk Protection Orders sounds like a lot, and I would expect restrictive policies to lead to more petitions filed. Florida has about three times Virginia’s population, for example, but in the first two years of their respective laws being in place, Florida filed almost 20 times as many petitions. That’s pretty alarming to me.  

And while Carita sees the 95% approval rate as a metric of success, I see it as a red flag all its own. Are judges in Florida rubber-stamping petitions under the theory that it’s better to be safe than sorry, even if that means individuals who don’t legitimately pose a risk to themselves or others are losing their ability to own a firearm? 

Carita says that about half of all petitions go uncontested, but we don’t know why that is. Do people find it too difficult to argue against a petition? Unlike some states, those subject to an Extreme Risk Protection Order are not entitled to have an attorney provided for them if they can’t afford one, which can leave them at a disadvantage when dealing with police and prosecutors who’ve been trained on what to say to increase the odds of approval. 

Florida’s model gets described as a surprising success and gets left at that. Florida is not being looked upon as a model for other states, but it probably should be. But here is the harder conversation: Florida has not fully absorbed its own lessons either.

The same factors that explain Florida’s statewide success also explain why it remains uneven. Thirty-five rural counties have filed fewer than 10 RPOs total. Broward County, ground zero for the tragedy that produced this law, shows minimal correlation between areas of concentrated gun violence and where RPOs are actually filed. The counties that perform best are not the ones with the most permissive political environments or the most gun violence. They are the ones that built dedicated infrastructure. such as Pinellas, Hillsborough and Polk.

None of that surprises me either. “Red flag” laws aren’t supposed to be used against garden-variety criminals. They’re billed primarily as a suicide prevention tool, as well as way to disarm individuals who have threatened mass violence. I’d find it shocking if there was a correlation between high crime communities and the number of “red flag” confiscations taking place. 

But this may also be another indication that at least some of those swept up in “red flag” orders aren’t really a threat. Research touted by “red flag” advocates suggests one suicide is prevented for every 13 to 20 petitions issued, which begs the question: what happens in all those other cases? How many individuals go on to take their life (or the life of another) by another means or through an illegally-obtained or possessed firearm? And how many were never a risk to themselves or others to begin with? 

Violent crime has trended down in Florida since its “red flag” law was put in place, but the same is true of states without any Extreme Risk Protection Order process. Based on Carita’s column, I’m convinced that Florida’s law is getting used quite a bit. I’m just not convinced the state is safer because of that fact. 

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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