Fox News host and former Republican congressman, Trey Gowdy, offered an impassioned argument for red flags during an interview with Sandra Smith on Tuesday about the recent elementary school shooting in Nashville.
“Suicidal ideations, homicidal ideations, mental health issues. The overwhelming majority of mass killers suffer from that. So what does that scream out to us? Red flag laws with due process. But red flag laws, I mean John’s follow-up question was okay, ‘they were lawfully purchased, but yet she wasn’t supposed to have them,’” Gowdy began, adding:
Here’s the answer. If you’ve been adjudicated mentally ill, you can no longer legally possess any firearm or any ammunition. But she was not taken before a judge. So homicidal, suicidal, mental health issues, and yet she, no red flag law was involved. All right. So that’s number one.
Number two, the overwhelming majority of mass shooters signal to someone what they’re about to do. So I’m not talking about a moral obligation to let folks know. I mean, they can sort that out for themselves. How about a legal obligation if you know someone in your household is talking about shooting up a school. I don’t care about your moral obligation. I want you to have a legal responsibility to go tell someone.
Alright Sandra, what doesn’t work? I confess I used to think having law enforcement officers at a school would help. The evidence does not suggest that it does. I used to hear from my colleagues in the House. Oh, we need more legislation. Most guns are lawfully purchased. And the legislation I constantly hear about is closing the gun show loophole. Okay, fine. Close it. But that will not stop a single mass shooting.
So I’m interested in red flag laws. I’m interested in responsibilities to turn people in. And I’m interested in this country, reckon, having a reckoning with the fact that we talk about every right, all the rights we have except the right for a seven-year-old to learn to read and write without getting murdered. How about that right? How about the right to go to elementary school without being murdered? Where does that fall in our hierarchy of rights in this country?” concluded Gowdy.
Which is why it’s the big conversation with so many parents right now is how do we secure those schools that that that are not as secured as others? I mean, we know in this instance this shooter chose this school because that shooter deemed this less secure. What can we be doing as a country to secure the perimeter, to provide a bulletproof glass? Are we doing enough to protect those kids once they’re in that building?” asked Smith.
Well, Sandra, I think that there were law enforcement in Uvalde, Texas and that did not work out. I think there was law enforcement in the Parkland High School shooting and that did not work out. So, yeah, I used to think that having police officer, I still think it’s a good idea to have them, but that is not a panacea,” Gowdy replied, adding:
So, instead of having schools where kids go to, you know, a quasi-prison, how about we do something about a culture that requires us to have schools for kids to go to that look like prisons?
I mean, I’d like to work on both in the interim, make it absolutely safe to attend school, since the law requires that you do so. On the other hand, we’ve got to have some kind of conversation about what is wrong with the soul of this country, that someone would kill a child. I don’t know the answer. I just know that we have a soul problem in addition to a violence problem in this country.
As the conversation wound down, Gowdy took a swipe at those on the right who argue against red flag laws.
“I mean, we can put people to death with due process in this country, but yet we got people on one political side who say you can’t take firearms under red flag laws because of due process concerns.”
“I mean, that’s really stupid. We can take your life, but we can’t take your firearm if you are having mental issues,” the former GOP congressman concluded.
