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Would “red flag laws” reduce number of shootings?

  • Scott LaMar
FILE - This undated file photo released by the Long Beach, Calif., Police Department shows weapons and ammunition seized from a cook at a Los Angeles-area hotel who allegedly threatened a mass shooting. Rodolfo Montoya was arrested Tuesday, Aug. 20, a day after allegedly telling a co-worker at the Long Beach Marriott he planned to shoot fellow workers and others. Experts say media coverage of the shootings makes the public more prone to inform on worrisome relatives or neighbors in an attempt to thwart more shootings. Following the high-profile shootings in California and Texas and Ohio, tips to the FBI rose by about 15,000 each week.

 Long Beach Police Department via AP

FILE - This undated file photo released by the Long Beach, Calif., Police Department shows weapons and ammunition seized from a cook at a Los Angeles-area hotel who allegedly threatened a mass shooting. Rodolfo Montoya was arrested Tuesday, Aug. 20, a day after allegedly telling a co-worker at the Long Beach Marriott he planned to shoot fellow workers and others. Experts say media coverage of the shootings makes the public more prone to inform on worrisome relatives or neighbors in an attempt to thwart more shootings. Following the high-profile shootings in California and Texas and Ohio, tips to the FBI rose by about 15,000 each week.

Airdate:  June 8, 2022

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The aftermath of the mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde Texas, Philadelphia and other places around the country the last two weeks have followed a familiar pattern. Shock, outrage, calls for expansion of mental health resources and, of course, new gun laws. After every shooting, there seems to be a sense of this is the one that will result in action. Most often, it doesn’t and another news story comes along and diverts the attention.

One proposal that appears to have public support according to most polls and even bi-partisan political support is “extreme risk or red flag laws.”

Red Flag laws allow family members or law enforcement officials to prevent an individual from accessing a gun if they believe the person is in crisis.

Less than half the states in the country already have red flag laws and the states with the lowest firearm deaths rates fall into that category.

Pennsylvania doesn’t but Democratic State Senator Wayne Fontana of Allegheny County would like to see that change and is on Wednesday’s Smart Talk to explain why.

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