Seattle Police Confiscate First Firearm Under New “Mental Health” Law

[KFhunter]

the red flag law has it's first test case

https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/gun-control/seattle-police-first-gun.htm

SEATTLE – The city’s police department became the first law enforcement agency in the state to force the surrender of a firearm under a new law known as an “extreme risk protection order.”

The incident involves a man who lives in Belltown, who neighbors said had been intimidating people for the past year - even staring-down customers through store-front windows with a gun holstered at his side.

Mental illness is suspected, but that new law allowed police to legally disarm him.

“He was roaming the hallways with a .25 caliber automatic,” said Tony Montana, who knows the man from his apartment complex. “And it created a lot of fear obviously because I didn't know if he was coming after me or gonna just start shooting the place up."

The man, who we are not naming, is also well known to the bars and restaurants below his unit along Second Ave. The volume of complaints convinced Seattle police to seek an extreme risk protection order - or “erpo” – which allows law enforcement to legally remove guns from people deemed a danger to themselves or others.

In this case, the man refused to comply. Because of the new law, police were then able to return with a warrant and force the man to surrender the firearm.

“I’m very supportive of this law,” Montana said. “This is a perfect case in point where it's had some efficacy. It was an immediate crisis and law enforcement was able to remove his firearms, so it very well could have saved lives."

A few dozen erpos have been served and executed around the state, but Seattle police said they are the only agency so far to seize a gun because the owner refused to hand it over.

Law enforcement professionals said these specialized protection orders could be a common sense strategy to try and prevent mass shootings - such as what happened in Parkland, Florida.

“There's certainly a big concern of the connection between mental health and people exhibiting violent behavior and whether or not they should have access to firearms. The ‘erpos’ give us that tool now as an option,” said Sgt. Eric Pisconski, who leads the crisis response unit for the Seattle Police Department.

The confiscations only last a year, although they can be renewed.

[Stein]

So, complaints from neighbors equates to an extreme risk and mental illness suspicion.

If that’s the reasoning, I wouldn’t expect this to survive a challenge.

Who knows what the real story is, very poor reporting.


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[Fl0und3rz]

Welcome to precrime enforcement.

I 1491, brought to you nanny Bloomberg's Everytown, IIRC.

Know your rights, such as they are in WA.

http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=7.94&full=true

[Knocker of rocks]

Who knows what the real story is, very poor reporting.

When I saw the name Tony Montana, I thought it was a hoax.  But it is legit

[optic2]

Welcome to precrime enforcement.

I 1491, brought to you nanny Bloomberg's Everytown, IIRC.

Know your rights, such as they are in WA.

http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=7.94&full=true

I mean if pre-crime enforcement is now OK then how about they round up all known gang members and drug dealers and throw them in jail.

[Curly]

So, complaints from neighbors equates to an extreme risk and mental illness suspicion.

If that’s the reasoning, I wouldn’t expect this to survive a challenge.

Who knows what the real story is, very poor reporting.

Terrible article. 

Could be a bunch of gun hating snowflakes are scared to see someone packing a gun. This law maybe is being abused here......actually I'd say, more likely than not the law is being abused.

[pianoman9701]

People in Seattle call conservatives mentally ill. Could a law this broad be used to strip people of their rights because of disagreeable speech? It's clear it could. I'm not saying this guy isn't wacko. I don't know if he is or not. And the Seattle PD doesn't know, either. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out.

[Stein]

Maybe an FOI request to see if there was a Minority Report?

[magnanimous_j]

Should we be disarming crazy people or not? If so, what kind of procedure would you guys be ok with?

[Curly]

Should we be disarming crazy people or not? If so, what kind of procedure would you guys be ok with?

Yeah, crazy people should be disarmed.  But simply having a gun strapped on shouldn't necessarily mean the guy is nuts.  It is legal to open carry in this state.

The law obviously can and likely will be abused. 

Do we have to trust the people that reported the guy and trust the officers that confiscated?

I wonder what the procedure is now for the man to go about getting his firearms back?  Is he SOL now that they've been confiscated?  Does he have to spend a bunch of money on a shrink to write a report stating that he isn't a danger?  If the shrink does find him to be a danger to own firearms, then what about a vehicle?  Maybe the state should confiscate any vehicles he owns.......or knives? 

It will be interesting to follow the case.

[magnanimous_j]

You can't deflect every gun control argument to mental health and then complain when they try to address crazy people with guns.

As for this guy, until I see something to the contrary, I'm going to assume he's legitimately nuts. People have called the cops dozens of times about him. If they didn't do anything, and he did hurt someone, you would blame the police for not doing anything. Open carry isn't super common around here, but people do it sometimes and no one freaks out.

[bigdave]

Just heard this from the police in our area recently "being creepy isn't a crime". Well, I guess being creepy with a gun strapped to you and they can wave your constitutional right of due process and steal personal property. This state is racing toward socialism so fast its tripping all over itself in the process. Anyone else looking at property in other states?

[Curly]

Open carry isn't super common around here, but people do it sometimes and no one freaks out.

I've witnessed people freaking out over normal people open carrying.

[baker5150]

They spoke in depth about this case on the radio the other day.  Officers involved had a lot of experience with this person including reports of threats.  If I recall they also had to get a judge to sign off on this.   
Also, there is a time limit on the warrant, after that they have to return his guns or charge him with something. 
I know this is a very vague post, I havnet had a chance to dive into how this works yet.
I'm not seeing a big issue in this case, but I can see it being abused, and it will.

[baldopepper]

Seems like another damned if you do and damned if you don't for LE. No wonder law enforcement agencies are having trouble recruiting.  Hard to find the combination of soldier, psychiatrist, and priest the job now requires.