After a mass shooting in Southport, North Carolina killed three people and left five others injured, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein brought up the idea of introducing red flag laws.
Red flag laws allow the government to temporarily require people to turn their guns in if their mental health may be seen as a threat. The alleged gunman in the Southport shooting is 40-year-old Nigel Edge. Edge is a Marine Corps veteran who was deployed to Iraq twice and has a history of making assassination plots.
Stein said that there are too many people who are in trouble and whose paranoia can become affected by what they read on the internet. Stein said that he wants to figure out ways to help people who might pose a risk to the community.
"It's a good idea," Stein said during a press conference. "There are people, in our community, who people know are a risk. A risk to others, a risk to themselves, and they should not have access to firearms."
In another attempt by the North Carolina government to crack down on criminal reform Stein signed 'Iryna's Law' after Iryna Zaruskta’s murder. This law increases checks on criminals out on bail and cracks down on cashless bail for violent crimes and most repeat offenders. 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zaruskta was stabbed to death on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina in August.
Professor of English Rosemary Haskell, who has an interest in writing about gun control, said that she thinks Stein’s idea to implement red flag laws would be a good thing. Twenty-one states across the country already have red flag laws.
“Red flag laws are not a bad idea,” Haskell said. “If you can identify somebody who seems to be a danger to themself or others, get their gun away from them. The root of the problem is accessibility to guns.”
Assistant professor of political science Dillan Bono-Lunn said that there has been a history of these laws being proposed.
“It's not necessarily a surprise that Governor Stein has brought this up,” Bono-Lunn said. “There have been previous efforts for red flag laws in North Carolina. Democratic lawmakers have introduced red flag bills several times over the past few years, but they failed to advance that in a Republican controlled general assembly.”
Haskell said due to the Republican dominated legislature she believes it is unlikely that these laws get passed. Haskell said that these laws would also put a damper on the Second Amendment.
If the Second Amendment really means that everybody has the right to carry a weapon, it clearly limits that. Which is good, I think, in my opinion,” Haskell said.
Bono-Lunn said that the red flag laws are addressing both gun violence and the mental health crisis in the United States.
“They're called Extreme Risk Protective Orders, that authorize the removal of a firearm from individuals who've been determined to be at-risk for committing gun violence against either themselves or others,” Bono-Lunn said. “High risk behavior can take lots of different forms.”
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, mental illness is common in the United States and around the world. It is estimated that more than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness.
The Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit that aims to protect children from gun violence, supports laws that are proven to save lives. The Sand Hook Promise wrote to Elon News Network in a statement that they try not to use the term “red flag” because it may stigmatize people who need help.