TOPEKA, Kan. — Republicans in two Midwestern states where GOP-controlled legislatures have gun-rights majorities are proposing measures aimed at preventing the U.S. government or other states from taking guns away from residents whom the courts deem a danger to themselves.
Neither Oklahoma nor Kansas has “red flag” laws through which relatives or police can obtain a court order to remove firearms from someone's possession. However, the proposals in those states also would prevent local city and county governments from enacting such laws. They would even go so far as to make it a felony for someone to help enforce such an order.
Sponsors said they were inspired by prospects that Congress might enact such a law or offer federal grants to entice states into putting them on the books.
Supporters of red flag laws say they reduce suicides and gun violence and lessen the risk of mass shootings. Gun-rights supporters contend they violate not only the right to own firearms but other constitutional guarantees, such as the right to due legal process, to confront an accuser, and against unreasonable searches and seizures of property.
“There's numerous violations of the Bill of Rights taking place by these red flags laws," Tulsa-area Republican state Sen. Nathan Dahm, who is sponsoring Oklahoma's measure.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have some sort of red flag law, with most enacting them starting in 2018, according groups favoring them and other gun-control measures. Interest in Congress appeared to grow after mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas.