Missouri lawmakers comment on red flag bill passed out of U.S. House
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The United State House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that aims to create a red flag law allowing families and police to ask federal courts to confiscate the guns of people in danger of harming themselves or others.
The House held a hearing earlier this week that included testimony from those impacted by several of the recent mass shootings across the country. Another mass shooting, this time in Maryland, occurred the same day this bill passed the House.
H.R. 2377, Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2021, would allow a judge to order guns be taken up from those reported to be demonstrating "red flags" and store them until a hearing can be held to determine whether the guns should be returned.
The bill passed the Democratic-majority House without support from only four Republicans. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) said he does not support the measure.
"I think the focus of that is taking away the rights of law-abiding citizens and does nothing to hurt criminals," Hawley said.
The bill does not stand a good chance in the U.S. Senate, where Republicans have the ability to filibuster any bill they don't want to see passed.
In lieu of red flag laws and raising the minimum age to purchase a gun, Hawley supports raising the federal penalties for violent crime and adding 100,000 new police officers. In order for anything to pass both chambers of Congress, it needs bipartisan support.
"I would hope that this would be a common-sense thing where we could start, at least we could start there, but I don't see much interest on the other side of the aisle," Hawley said.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Missouri) voted in favor of the red flag bill. Cleaver supports stricter gun reform.
"If there are ways in which we can prevent the next slaughter observing someone who is saying things putting things online, maybe even saying confessing things to family and friends, that we ought to be able to," Cleaver said.
Cleaver said a compromise is possible, but there are some issues he will not budge on.
"I think those of us who believe in democracy also believe in compromise," Cleaver said. "However, you know, we have to be very careful about compromising here on these issues."
