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* WGLT has a long and very good story about the state’s new “red flag” law. You should read the whole thing, but here’s an excerpt…
Normal Police successfully asked a judge to take away a 74-year-old man’s guns in March after officers became concerned his hallucinations could pose a public safety risk, as WGLT first reported. The man “admitted that there (was) a possibility that the medication he (was) taking (for a hip injury) is causing him to hallucinate,” officers wrote in their request for the firearm restraining order. […]
“It turned out as well as you could hope for,” Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner said. “It worked how it was intended to work.” […]
“He’s OK with it,” said [the man’s attorney Helen Ogar]. She said the episode “brought (the 74-year-old’s situation) to everyone’s attention” in his family.
“He’s lovely,” Ogar said. “He was just having some health issues. He went on some medications that maybe made him not as sound as he could be. We’re dealing with those as an underlying issue. And we treated it more like a social work issue than a quasi-criminal case.”
Mark Jones with [the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence] praised examples like that.
“It’s a public health tool. It’s not a criminal tool,” Jones said.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Sep 16, 19 @ 9:43 am
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Good call. Some meds can cause hallucinations. I remember when I was doing my stint as a hospital chaplain at Barnes, I had a patient who described in detail how her magic pet llama would help her through the day. I’m not kidding you. I went along with it with wrapped attention. Actually it was totally fascinating. The next day she was right as rain. I didn’t mention the Llama.
But good on the Normal Police. You never know.
Comment by Honeybear Monday, Sep 16, 19 @ 9:53 am
If only we would look at other criminal justice issues as public health issues. Like addiction, homelessness and any other folks would like to add.
Comment by don the legend Monday, Sep 16, 19 @ 10:18 am
Story was pretty good but had a couple of slightly questionable / not followed up comments.
1) Comparing it to an Order of Protection, the speaker failed to note how OP’s can be misused by vindictive people. They talked about getting the red flag knowledge out there at the county LE level, but never addressed the potential for misuse. Just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
2) Raoul claiming victory for defending the law from a lawsuit. Technically he won, but the suit was dismissed due to lack of standing by the plaintiff. A fresh from passing the bar lawyer could have “won” that case.
Comment by RNUG Monday, Sep 16, 19 @ 10:27 am
It’s rare that a gun control law has bipartisan support like the red flag laws. 77% of Americans are in favor of them.
Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Monday, Sep 16, 19 @ 10:30 am
“77% of Americans are in favor of them”
Due process is so underrated.
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2019/09/04/red-flag-laws-spur-debate-over-due-process
Comment by Donnie Elgin Monday, Sep 16, 19 @ 11:09 am
DCFS sees false allegations of child abuse. Sometimes as part of custody battles. They have a method for dealing with repeat offenders.
As per RNUG’s comment, there should be some penalty for misusing the law. That would be a slight modification of a good law.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Monday, Sep 16, 19 @ 11:57 am
Have to agree with RNUG, ex parte proceedings are too easy to abuse. Also agree there should be some serious penalties for such abuse, whether willfully or negligently.
Comment by PrairieDog Monday, Sep 16, 19 @ 2:31 pm
==there should be some penalty for misusing the law.==
There already is. Anyone who abuses the statute by knowingly filing false allegations can be convicted of perjury, which is a felony.
Comment by ffs Monday, Sep 16, 19 @ 3:10 pm