On Monday, President Joe Biden held an event at the White House celebrating the recent passage of the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.” Part of the new gun control law has incentives for states to pass red flag laws.
Last month, State Rep. Merika Coleman (D-Birmingham) said she planned to bring up a new red flag law during the next session of the Alabama Legislature.
Alabama Senate Majority Leader Clay Scofield (R-Guntersville) reacted to the idea recently on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” saying he did not believe any red flag law would have a chance of passing in the Yellowhammer State.
When asked about the potential of a red flag law passing, Scofield said, “I doubt it.”
“We have deliberated that in the past, and there wasn’t any appetite,” he continued. “Look, Illinois has red flag laws, and it did not work, which is what we pro-Second Amendment advocates have talked about for a long time.”
The state senator said new gun control laws would not solve the problem.
“We’re fooling ourselves if we think that because we have certain laws that frankly restrict gun ownership by good, innocent Americans, the bad folks are still going to find a way to get them,” he argued. “They’re still going to find a way to inflict harm, and so in an instance like that, the only counter is for people to be able to protect themselves. And, in my opinion, certain red flag laws could impair good God-fearing Americans to protect themselves.”
Scofield said red flag laws were just another way the government would infringe on an individual’s due process rights and second amendment rights.
“I’m not sure exactly what is being proposed in Alabama, what that looks like, or even if [Coleman] has a final draft of that,” he said, “but anytime it impairs good citizens from being able to protect themselves, I think that’s a non-starter.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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