The headline in an Op-Ed about so-called “red flag” laws, published by the Portland, Maine Press-Herald, says more about gun control that perhaps was intended.
“Red flag laws ignore the truth about crime,” and the subhead notes, “Criminals commit crimes, not guns.”
Author Andee Reardon, owner of the East Coast School of Safety and Maine state director for Women for Gun Rights, is a certified firearms instructor. That’s a notch or two above being a self-described “trainer,” and her certifications come from the National Rifle Association and U.S. Concealed Carry Association. While her opinion piece focused on controversial disarmament statutes around the country, her opening paragraph actually highlighted a problem Second Amendment advocates and activists face in every state.
“After every senseless tragedy in America,” Reardon writes, “gun control activists and their media allies call for more gun restrictions and gun confiscation, and they attack our Second Amendment rights. No matter the circumstances of the crime committed, they will exploit the loss of life to advance their political agenda.”
Law-abiding gun owners are not the problem, and more restrictive gun control laws are not the solution. This is because criminals—as illustrated by reports from all over the U.S.—do not obey those laws.
Down in Beaumont, Texas, a man identified as Jorge Luis Castelan, Jr., 32, will be spending the next few years in a federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to KJAC News, Castelan pleaded guilty to the charge way back on April 13, 2023.
A federal grand jury in Bowling Green, Kentucky has indicted a convicted felon for possession of more than one firearm, according to a report from WBKO News. The report said the suspect had a Taurus .40-caliber pistol, a Hermann Weihrauch .32-caliber revolver, and a .410 shotgun, plus ammunition for the three guns.
A Wyoming man identified as Richard Joseph McCloskey recently pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. As reported by the Oil City News, Casper police arrested McCloskey in connection with the theft last August of firearms and currency from a vehicle belonging to a man with a federal firearms license. Taken in the car prowl were an MP7 machine pistol and Glock 9mm pistol, ammunition and twenty 1-ounce gold Kruggerands. When McCloskey was taken into custody, he was driving a stolen truck.
Back in Texas, Corpus Christi resident Jason Ramirez was sentenced to prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and narcotics. KRIS-TV News said Ramirez will be in prison for 10 years, followed by five more years of “supervised release.”
And in Shreveport, Louisiana, KEEL News reported the arrest of a man last month who turned out to be a convicted felon, armed with a gun. The suspect now faces a charge for that offense.
Like other gun control laws, in her Op-Ed Reardon says the same thing about “red flag” laws. Citing research conducted by RAND, Reardon writes, “no study shows that extreme risk protection orders decreased suicide, violent crime, mass shootings, police shootings, or unintentional injuries and deaths.”
Concluding her essay, Reardon observes, “Instead of championing policies that threaten our constitutional rights and safety, let’s focus on the root of the problem. Red flag laws ignore the simple truth that criminals, not guns, commit crime.”
She encourages friends and neighbors to buy a gun and learn to use it.
