Gun confiscations under Maryland’s new Extreme Risk Protective Orders, better known as their “Red Flag Gun Law,” claimed their first victim. 61-year-old Gary J. Willis was shot and killed at his home while police were serving a protective order to confiscate his firearms.
Under the new law, which took effect last month, gun owners can have their firearms confiscated through a judge’s order if they are deemed a risk to themselves or others. To be deemed a risk, someone must file a petition with the court. It can be law enforcement, a health professional, spouse, family member, past or present boyfriend or girlfriend, or a current or former legal guardian.
According to reports, Willis answered the door with a firearm in his hand when two police officers went to serve the order shortly after 5 am. He put the gun down, but when the officers served the order he became “irate” and grabbed his gun. One officer tried to take the gun from him but a shot was fired. The other officer shot Willis. He died at the scene. Neither officer nor anyone else in the house was injured.
2 AACo PD Officers serving Red Flag order to remove guns from a house kill man listed on order.
PD: Man answers door at 5:17am armed with a handgun, refuses to drop it. A fight ensues, his gun fires, police return fire, man dies at scene. Ofcrs nor others in house were hurt. pic.twitter.com/4PWQrTFCDp— Mike Schuh WJZ (@MikeWJZ) November 5, 2018
In a bizarre spin from police, Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare used this incident as an example of the law working.
“If you look at this morning’s outcome, it’s tough for us to say ‘Well, what did we prevent?’” he said. “Because we don’t know what we prevented or could’ve prevented. What would’ve happened if we didn’t go there at 5 a.m.?”
My Take
There have only been nine attempts to serve these orders since the law was enacted on October 1. That’s an 11% kill rate on people who may commit a crime in the future.
Maryland’s law is being hailed by many as the prototype for the nation. It isn’t the first but it’s the strongest to date with the widest range of people who can petition the court for action.
All it takes is a good story and a sympathetic judge to take away someone’s guns. In this case, it was a relative of the deceased who filed the petition after an incident that occurred in the beginning of the week. We don’t know the details so there’s no way to judge, but the notion that this incident is proof the law is working is the type of circular reasoning gungrabbers will use to encourage more confiscations.
Maryland officials claim around half of the petitions so far have been approved. That’s a staggering amount for a law that was allegedly intended to be used very cautiously. At the rate they’re being filed, over 600 gun owners will have their firearms confiscated in the first year alone.
What makes this law so dangerous is the fear of missing a shooter. No judge wants to be the first to deny a petition for someone who later commits acts of violence with a firearm. That’s why around half have been granted; if the reasons seem compelling, judges are going to side with the petitioner and force the gun owner to sort it out later in court.
It’s also a decision that’s impossible to get wrong. Who’s to say that if the guns weren’t confiscated that the owner wouldn’t have gone out and harmed themselves or others.
Gun violence in general and mass shootings in particular, such as the Capital Gazette shooting that prompted support for Maryland’s red flag gun law, have many people grasping for solutions. The fear of such events put people in the vulnerable frame of mind of accepting such laws for their own protection.
Laws like these will not help. A closer examination of shooters in recent years indicate trends of expressed anger, mental illness, and isolationist behavior. It seems nearly universal among shooters, especially those who commit premeditated attacks. Unfortunately, these traits are also found in millions of other Americans who would never commit such crimes.
Like I said, all it takes is a good story and a sympathetic judge to take away someone’s rights in Maryland.
Gary J. Willis isn’t dead because he tried to shoot someone. He is dead because someone convinced a judge that he might shoot someone, and now police are hailing this as a success. The PreCrime Departments are pleased with the results.
One Sick Day Proves We Need More Voices in Truthful Media
On October 19, I was sick. It crossed my mind that I had finally gotten the ‘rona, but my wife’s cream of chicken soup and a few extra hours of sleep into mid-afternoon had be back up and running after a sleepless night before.
When I finally stumbled over to my computer in the evening, I was met with a deluge of concern from readers. They asked what had happened as only one article had been posted that day. Generally, we post between 10-20 daily between all of the sites, not included curated and aggregated content. Seeing that we’d only posted my super-early morning article before taking the rest of the day off had readers assuming the worst.
We have a wonderful and talented group of writers who volunteer their time for the sites and their readers. Sharing their amazing perspectives has always been a blessing to us because we cannot afford to hire anyone at this time. But having great writers is meaningless if we don’t have great editors, or at least one additional. My wife helps me read and edit stories from time to time, but I’m a one-man show when it comes to getting the stories posted.
Whenever I highlight our desperate need for donations, I note that we do not receive money from Google ads even though most in conservative media are beholden. I often ambiguously note that the money donated will help us grow. Today, I’m highlighting a specific need. We must get an editor to help take some of the load and to expand on our mission of spreading the truth to the world. One sick day proved that.
The great news is that there is no shortage of people who CAN help. I am emailed variations of resumes every week by people who are much smarter than I am. As much as I’d love to hire some of them, we simply cannot. That takes money and as blessed as we’ve been to receive donations and collect ad money (though not from Google or Facebook), we have still fallen short.
Those who have the means, PLEASE consider donating. We have the standard Giving Fuel option and people can donate through PayPal. We are also diving into what we believe is extremely disruptive technology at LetsGo.finance, the world’s first major donation portal for crypto. I’ll be talking a lot more about them in the near future. Those who prefer Bitcoin can send to my address here: 3A1ELVhGgrwrypwTJhPwnaTVGmuqyQrMB8
We can get the voices out there and we’re willing to shine a spotlight on new talent. We just need the resources to make it happen. If you can help, we would be extremely grateful.
Thank you and God bless!
JD Rucker
All ORIGINAL content on this site is © 2021 NOQ Report. All REPUBLISHED content has received direct or implied permission for reproduction.
With that said, our content may be reproduced and distributed as long as it has a link to the original source and the author is credited prominently. We don’t mind you using our content as long as you help out by giving us credit with a prominent link. If you feel like giving us a tip for the content, we will not object!
JD Rucker – EIC
@jdrucker
There’s been 114 attempts since law was enacted on oct 1 2018. correct the story please. Whats next… you’re a conservative we’re here to confiscate your gun. What you supported Trump… turn em over
There have been 114 applications. Around half approved. Nine attempts to issue and secure weapons as of today.
Anyone banging on my door at 5AM is going to be met in similar fashion,
Common Sense should dictate that these sort of orders be served during ~normal business hours~.
The 5AM knock on the door just smacks of Gestapo Tactics and an attempt to provoke a confrontation.
The brakes can be put on these petitions by making the petitioner liable for all legal consequences, be they civil or criminal, that derive from the petition. That should include both any potential financial and potential jail time that arises.
A law is created to prevent someone from being murdered by a firearm – during the process of enforcing the law, someone is murdered with a firearm. Maybe there needs to be an additional law made that makes murder more illegal – because the only way to curb gun violence is to make more laws.
What nobody is mentioning is the REASON the Red Flag Law was enacted on him in the first place???
5am???? I’d come to the door armed too.
Why the hell would cops come to the door at 5am to take a persons gun unless they knew the law is unconstitutional.
I agree. It is a self fulfilling prophecy
A family member filed a petition in court, Judge approved it, an order was issued and these police officers had to go out to the home and serve it and confiscate the gun. So the reporter says he’s dead because a family member convinced a Judge he was mentally unstable and that’s why he died, no he died because he became enraged after being served with the order and got into a physical confrontation with an officer and shot the gun. Think about it, maybe his family member was right about his mental instability and unfortunately this story had a very bad ending
ur a moron
try to shoot a cop and see what happens – are you mafia? or what kind of criminal