September 14, 2019
The Honorable Lindsey Graham
United States Senate
290 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Graham,
I am writing to you today on behalf of Campaign for Liberty supporters from all across the United States who oppose any and all attempts to water down our right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Recent tragedies in Dayton, OH, Odessa, TX, and El Paso, TX are just that: tragedies.
Before the details of the El Paso and Dayton shootings were even fully known, you were rushing to the microphones to announce a “deal” with congressional Democrats like Senator Richard Blumenthal.
At the heart of your “deal” is giving the government the powers to seize law-abiding Americans’ firearms — with ZERO DUE PROCESS — and create a Nationwide Gun Registration — aka Universal Background Checks — giving the government the names and firearms of every single gun owner in the country.
But even as you were quick to point out, proposed “Red Flag” laws would not have prevented these shootings. But “Red Flag” laws will clearly violate the rights of law-abiding Americans by taking away their right to due process and their right to have a weapon.
You are quoted on FOX News as saying something very reminiscent of President Obama’s remarks regarding healthcare (“If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.”). You said, “Nobody’s going to lose their gun unless they have their day in court.”
Senator Graham, that statement is simply not true.
Currently, 17 states plus the District of Columbia have “Red Flag” laws in place, and in every single one of these states and D.C, the law allows judges to issue preliminary gun confiscation orders without giving the accused an opportunity to answer the accusations.
In addition, these “Red Flag” laws do not have, as President Trump called them, “rapid due process,” but rather they ignore due process completely.
Most states with “Red Flag” laws do not require the accuser to even appear in court where they would be subject to cross examination. Only five of the states with laws in place now even require that the petition to remove a citizen’s guns come from a police officer or prosecutor.
Quite simply, “Red Flag” laws do not work, they violate some of our most basic rights given to us through the United States Constitution, and, as you have pointed out, they would not have prevented the recent shootings.
The comments you’ve made about “Red Flag” laws being implemented indicate you want the federal government to simply give grants to the states so the can implement the laws.
As pointed out above, the states have not done a remotely adequate job of protecting the rights of Americans when it comes to guns, due process, and “Red Flag” laws. By putting this on the states, you are also giving yourself and other senators and “out” so you can claim you didn’t vote for more gun control.
Senator Graham, in your role as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I call on you to abandon all efforts to bring more gun control to our country, whether it be under the guise of grants to states to implement “Red Flag” laws or any other bill that would infringe on the rights to keep and bear arms and our right to due process.
In Liberty,
Ron Paul