The Associated Press is reporting on the initiatives of certain states across the country to seize guns from private citizens. The article cites the fact that some states may be looking to copy Connecticut’s law that allowed judges to order guns to be seized from people who police determine are a danger to themselves or others.
Indiana reportedly passed a similar law in 2005 and now California and New Jersey legislatures are debating passing similar laws.
Connecticut’s law allows judges to order guns temporarily seized after police present evidence that a person is a danger to themselves or others. A court hearing must be held within 14 days to determine whether to return the guns or authorize the state to hold them for up to a year.
The 1999 law, the first of its kind in the U.S., was in response to the 1998 killings of four managers at the Connecticut Lottery headquarters by a disgruntled employee with a history of psychiatric problems.
Indiana is the only other state that has such a law, passed in 2005 after an Indianapolis police officer was shot to death by a mentally ill man. California and New Jersey lawmakers are now considering similar statutes, both proposed in the wake of the killings of six people — three stabbed to death and three fatally shot— and wounding of 13 others near the University of California, Santa Barbara, by a mentally ill man who had posted threatening videos on YouTube.
Series of videos have been released by citizens which show police officers harassing, detaining and arresting law abiding gun owners simply for open carrying. This recent video which went viral shows someone being harassed and eventually arrested by police for open carrying.
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