A “red flag law” is something that, on the surface, seems like a common-sense idea. How often have we wondered why authorities hadn’t taken weapons away from someone who had clearly indicated that they were dangerous and intent on doing harm. Uvalde, Parkland, and Buffalo are just a few examples of mass shootings that could have been prevented if action had been taken against an individual clearly signaling their disturbed minds to those around them.

However, once you start to notice the talk around red flag laws, you start to see the holes and flaws in the idea.

It’s important to remember that a red flag law is effectively a societal nod to strip someone of their 2nd Amendment right, not because they committed a crime, but because you think they might. More accurately, someone can be stripped of their right to bear arms off of the mere accusation that they intend to cause harm.

Take, for instance, this Twitter moment highlighted by Arther Schwartz. Media Matters for America’s Jason Campbell attempted to make the Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro seem like a crazed lunatic for declaring that if anyone came for his children, he’d greet them with a gun. Campbell is a Media Matters goon, so he isn’t known for putting things in the correct context and likely is making Shapiro’s words sound more sensationalistic than they actually were, but with that said, if someone came for my kids I’d probably greet them at the door with a firearm as well. In fact, I imagine many parents would.

Regardless, what we do know about Ben Shapiro is that he’s not a crazed gunman bent on mass murder. He’s a very rational, logical guy who promotes reasoned debate and conversation over violence. Rep. Eric Swalwell likely knows this too, but it didn’t stop him from calling Shapiro a “lunatic” and openly suggesting red flag laws need to exist because of people like Shapiro.

Flagging for all the Republicans that have indicated that they’re prepared to back the red flag laws pushed by democrats. This is what you’re backing. You’ve been warned. pic.twitter.com/76jrec9Kji

— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) June 13, 2022

I’m sure you can already see the issue here.

Shapiro is not a threat to anyone except in a case where he has to use self-defense. He’s never exhibited any radicalized nonsense that would suggest he’s unstable or dangerous. Yet, a sitting congressman is suggesting that Shapiro’s firearms be taken from him (if he has any) because one of his ideological allies sensationalized something Shapiro had said.

Red flag laws are ripe for abuse and we already have leftists with blue check marks on Twitter openly admitting that they’re ready to take advantage of them just by claiming an innocent man is insane for wanting to defend his children from people who want to take them in order to indoctrinate them with radicalized thought.

The left would love nothing more than to eliminate the Second Amendment but they know that doing so will be a nigh-impossible task. It requires a lot of support and they don’t have nearly enough. So getting creative about taking away guns is the closest option. Besides, it could be used as a stepping stone for even more legislation that could make taking away firearms from a larger group or population much easier. Merely belonging to a patriotic Facebook group or being part of a group of angry parents that showed up to a school board meeting could result in law enforcement showing up at your door to confiscate your weapons.

All it will take is one leftist to make the claim.

There are solutions to making the people safer, but punishing the innocent isn’t one of them. Red flag laws would be great in a perfect world, but we don’t live in one, and there are people in positions of power ready to use and abuse whatever they can in order to push their personal agendas.

Without the right to gun ownership, the rest of the Bill of Rights is a wishlist. Do we really want to live in a world where someone like Eric Swalwell can wave his hand and strip you of rights given to you by God?