Democrats have repeatedly made the case. Friends, family, even total strangers should be allowed to deny you your rights, based on hearsay or even a personal vendetta. Triggered by emotion, a Red Flag Law would give them the power to bypass the Constitution. Why stop with firearms?
First, for context,
Stephen Nichols, an 84-year-old Korean War veteran, former police officer…was overheard, and misquoted, by a waitress in an Oak Bluff, MA, diner. … and on the word of the waitress…had his licensed and registered firearms seized and were immediately fired from his position as a crossing guard … and had his 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 14th Amendment rights essentially revoked.
Mr. Nichols must now waste time and treasure unwinding himself from this misunderstanding. A process where he is guilty until proven innocent.
No lives were in danger, but the law is indiscriminate in its abuse. Perception and emotion, even revenge and vendetta, come before protected rights.
How many ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends, ex-husbands, or ex-wives can easily abuse red flag laws? How many constitutional rights are red flag law proponents willing to submit to arbitrary review by judges?
Abortion is a pretty big deal. If you don’t have one, the result is a person. Lives are literally at stake. And the decision to have one is fraught with emotion, hormones, public pressure. What if the same rules for firearms applied to people considering abortion?
Liberals would binge-crap rage kittens.
Should an ex-boyfriend, ex-husband, parent, or friend be able to petition a judge to halt an abortion? Clearly, the decision to have an abortion is a highly emotional one, would it be so bad for a judge to halt the procedure, just long enough to make sure that the subject woman is acting rationally?
Is it a right, or is it a privilege?
Nowhere does the constitution mention abortion, not even in the shadows of the penumbras. The Federal government has no actual power to regulate them. The states do. And while I oppose abortion until such time as the Federal government determines that as a person, an unborn child has the right to have its life protected, abortion will be a thing.
But what if it was subject to Red Flag Laws?
Should we allow an ex-boyfriend, ex-husband, parent, or school counselor to make the red flag abortion petition ex-parte? Would pro-choice advocates feel comfortable that a judge hearing the red flag abortion petition could keep his or her personal and political feelings out of the ruling? Would a woman seeking an abortion feel overly burdened by simply having to plead her case to a judge, or would she believe that she does not have to explain exercising her Constitutional rights to anyone? Would a woman feel, in such circumstances, that abortion was no longer a right but a privilege?
I’ll leave the question for your consideration.
Paul Curry | Townhall.com
