Think you support universal background
checks, red flag laws? Let's test that

Polls frequently show that gun owners who otherwise strongly support the Second Amendment are in favor of universal background checks and red flag laws.

On their face, such laws might seem reasonable. Nobody, after all, wants a firearm to end up in the hands of someone of ill intent who is a threat to anyone's safety.

Let's look at a few scenarios, courtesy of John Lott's Crime Prevention Research Center, and see if you really support such measures — which, by the way, would be counter to other rights, such as due process.

Suppose you're a woman whose ex-boyfriend is a state trooper who falsely committed you to a mental health facility after assaulting you. The trooper intentionally misrepresented texts you had sent him, all to exert his control over you.

You are held involuntarily for 72 hours for a psychiatric evaluation without any due-process hearing under the assumption that you were a danger to yourself and to others — all because a law-enforcement officer had doctored your text messages. .....