Wham, you just got elected Judge. Doesn't matter what jurisdiction. A case comes before you: Citizen X's guns have been red-flagged. At the hearing, Witness for the govt. is Citizen X's girlfriend. She testifies that Citizen X has been threatening to shoot up a McDonald's, threatening to shoot her, threatening to shoot her family and then kill himself. Says he sits there all night long cleaning an AR over and over, mumbling about how everyone is out to get him but he is gonna make all of them pay.
Citizen X testifies in his defense: girlfriend is mad because he won't take her on vacation and he has threatened to leave her, but nothing else. He says all of her testimony is BS. He admits to owning a confiscated AR and a thousand rounds of ammo. Says he got a good deal on bulk ammo and he likes to go to the range.
Alright Judge, what you gonna do? This is a simplistic scenario but I think we all know what the Judge is gonna do: err on the side of caution. The side of caution is confiscation. Always will be...
Wham, you just got elected judge. You live in a jurisdiction where fifty percent of the males have an AR, seventy five percent of households have some kind of firearm and 2,000 rounds is just enough for a couple afternoons at the river. Deer season is coming soon and you know that the state rifle association will want the stats of all the red flags you’ve granted. There are no social media posts backing her assertions. No evidence of drug use. And a clean criminal record and no mental health issues.
You don’t want an opponent in the next election who says that you aren’t concerned enough with second amendment rights. Now what do you do?
