Someone requesting a red flag warrant must state “specific facts and circumstances” that justify it. The application form also includes check boxes for categories of worrisome behavior, including threat or use of physical force, violation of an existing protective order, reckless use or branding of a weapon, and substance abuse. It also includes space to list the firearms owned by the person to whom the application relates.
After a request is filed, a judge holds a hearing where both parties can be heard. If a judge grants the warrant, the person to whom the warrant relates must surrender all weapons and may not purchase any other weapons for a year. The warrant can be extended if it is shown that the person is “likely to continue to participate” in dangerous behavior.
In Broome, the homeland of Mr. Gendron, there have been 11 red flag orders, or about one for every 18,000 residents. The legal system does not keep track of how many applications have been rejected.
The law enforcement officer briefed on the school project said hundreds of school threats are filed each year in New York, and in each case, authorities are interviewing students and parents to determine whether students have access to weapons. The authorities then try to issue a motivated appeal about the measures to be taken.
The suspect wrote in a document he posted online that he obtained a shotgun and a shotgun in 2020. Sometime in recent months, he bought the Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle that police say used in the shooting at an Endicott, NY, store 20 miles from his home in Conklin, according to the owner.
Nineteen states have enacted such laws, including Virginia and New Mexico in 2020. Because nearly all of them have been passed in the past 10 years, there has been limited research on their effectiveness.
Josh Horwitz, co-director of the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said the laws could be effective if law enforcement agencies are properly trained and there is funding behind such programs.
