By Jeff Charles

September 26, 2021

-Red State

 

House Democrats, in their ongoing quest to make it more difficult for Americans to possess firearms, managed to sneak a red flag provision into the latest iteration of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The legislation was passed last week and is headed to the Senate.

Bearing Arms’ Cam Edwards explained:

The military version of the red flag law proposed by Democrats looks a lot like the civilian version found in more than a dozen states. Without being charged or even accused of a crime, a service member could have their right to possess a firearm taken away from them by a military court, and the subject of the red flag order wouldn’t even have a chance to provide any evidence on their behalf for up to 30 days after the court’s order was issued.

Edwards noted that there are “fundamental flaws” with the legislation. He wrote:

Just like with the red flag laws in place in states from California to Connecticut, if a person is found (through a lowered standard of review than what is used in a criminal proceeding) to be a danger to themselves or others by a judge, there’s no actual mental health component to the order removing guns. A supposedly dangerous person can be left with knives, pills, poison, gasoline and matches, and any other tool they might use to take their own life or the lives of others as long as any legally owned guns are taken away.

Edwards also pointed out that each state and the military already have “civil commitment laws on the books.”

But what is noteworthy about the passage of this legislation is that 135 Republican lawmakers voted for it. Gun Owners of America (GOA), a gun rights advocacy group, addressed some of the excuses these Congress members used to justify their “yes” vote. They tweeted:

Some House RINOs who supported Red Flag laws in the #NDAA on Thursday are falsely claiming the bill doesn’t really have gun confiscation orders for the military.

Maybe they didn’t read the bill, but we did.

This is not the first time anti-gun Democrats attempted to hide a red flag provision in the NDAA. They did the same thing last year.

Here is a list of each Republican Congress member who voted in support of the NDAA with the red flag provision intact:

Rick W. Allen – Georgia

Mark E. Amodei – Nevada

Don Bacon – Nebraska

James R. Baird – Indiana

Troy Balderson – Ohio

Jim Banks – Indiana

Andy Barr – Kentucky

Cliff Bentz – Oregon

Jack Bergman – Michigan

Stephanie I. Bice – Oklahoma

Gus M. Bilirakis – Florida

Mike Bost – Illinois

Kevin Brady – Texas

Vern Buchanan – Florida

Larry Bucshon – Indiana

Ken Calvert – California

Kat Cammack – Florida

Jerry L. Carl – Alabama

Earl L. “Buddy” Carter – Georgia

John R. Carter – Texas

Madison Cawthorn – North Carolina

Liz Cheney – Wyoming

Tom Cole – Oklahoma

Eric A. “Rick” Crawford – Arkansas

Dan Crenshaw – Texas

Rodney Davis – Illinois

Scott DesJarlais – Tennessee

Mario Diaz-Balart – Florida

Neal P. Dunn – Florida

Jake Ellzey – Texas

Pat Fallon – Texas

Randy Feenstra – Iowa

Drew Ferguson IV – Georgia

Scott Fitzgerald – Wisconsin

Brian K. Fitzpatrick – Pennsylvania

Charles J. “Chuck” Fleischmann – Tennessee

Virginia Foxx – North Carolina

Scott Franklin – Florida

Matt Gaetz – Florida

Mike Gallagher – Wisconsin

Andrew R. Garbarino – New York

Bob Gibbs – Ohio

Carlos A. Gimenez – Florida

Tony Gonzales – Texas

Anthony Gonzalez – Ohio

Kay Granger – Texas

Garret Graves – Louisiana

Sam Graves – Missouri

Mark E. Green – Tennessee

Brett Guthrie – Kentucky

Diana Harshbarger – Tennessee

Vicky Hartzler – Missouri

Jaime Herrera Beutler – Washington

French Hill – Arkansas

Ashley Hinson – Iowa

Trey Hollingsworth – Indiana

Richard Hudson – North Carolina

Darrell Issa – California

Ronny Jackson – Texas

Chris Jacobs – New York

Mike Johnson – Louisiana

Bill Johnson – Ohio

Dusty Johnson – South Dakota

David P. Joyce – Ohio

John Joyce – Pennsylvania

John Katko – New York

Fred Keller – Pennsylvania

Trent Kelly – Mississippi

Mike Kelly – Pennsylvania

Young Kim – California

Adam Kinzinger – Illinois

David Kustoff – Tennessee

Darin LaHood – Illinois

Doug Lamborn – Colorado

Robert E. Latta – Ohio

Jake LaTurner – Kansas

Julia Letlow – Louisiana

Billy Long – Missouri

Frank D. Lucas – Oklahoma

Blaine Luetkemeyer – Missouri

Nancy Mace – South Carolina

Nicole Malliotakis – New York

Tracey Mann – Kansas

Kevin McCarthy – California

Michael T. McCaul – Texas

Lisa C. McClain – Michigan

Patrick T. McHenry – North Carolina

David B. McKinley – West Virginia

Peter Meijer – Michigan

Daniel Meuser – Pennsylvania

Carol D. Miller – West Virginia

Mariannette Miller-Meeks – Iowa

John R. Moolenaar – Michigan

Blake D. Moore – Utah

Gregory F. Murphy – North Carolina

Dan Newhouse – Washington

Devin Nunes – California

Jay Obernolte – California

Greg Pence – Indiana

August Pfluger – Texas

Tom Reed – New York

Guy Reschenthaler – Pennsylvania

Cathy McMorris Rodgers – Washington

Harold Rogers – Kentucky

David Rouzer – North Carolina

Maria Elvira Salazar – Florida

Steve Scalise – Louisiana

Austin Scott – Georgia

Michael K. Simpson – Idaho

Adrian Smith – Nebraska

Christopher H. Smith – New Jersey

Victoria Spartz – Indiana

Pete Stauber – Minnesota

Michelle Steel – California

Elise M. Stefanik – New York

Bryan Steil – Wisconsin

Claudia Tenney – New York

Glenn Thompson – Pennsylvania

Michael R. Turner – Ohio

Fred Upton – Michigan

David G. Valadao – California

Jefferson Van Drew – New Jersey

Beth Van Duyne – Texas

Ann Wagner – Missouri

Tim Walberg – Michigan

Jackie Walorski – Indiana

Michael Waltz – Florida

Brad R. Wenstrup – Ohio

Bruce Westerman – Arkansas

Joe Wilson – South Carolina

Robert J. Wittman – Virginia

Steve Womack – Arkansas

Don Young – Alaska

It is not yet clear whether the red flag provision will survive the Senate. While GOP lawmakers in the House might believe they will get away with supporting the legislation, Senate Republicans might not be willing to take such a risk — given the slim lead the Democrats have in the upper chamber. Moreover, there could be some Democrats who oppose the bill for various reasons.

Either way, it is important to keep an eye on this particular proposal. If the Democrats get their way, it could set a precedent that would make it easier for them to enact federal red flag laws on the rest of the country.

c. RED STATE