Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pushed back on calls for red flag laws and other gun control laws in the wake of the shooting in Maine this week, saying that he does not believe they are appropriate because they violate a person’s due process rights.
The Republican presidential candidate made the remarks during a CNN interview Thursday night with Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” after 18 people were killed and more than a dozen were injured in Maine after a mentally disturbed man opened fire at two locations this week.
He noted that he views red flag laws as different than someone who is not mentally competent to own a firearm.
“I think red flag laws have been abused, because people can just lodge a complaint,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll take somebody’s firearms. And here’s the thing. It’s not even Second Amendment, but it is a Fifth Amendment due process issue. Can you take someone’s property without having an adjudication? So I think it’s different.”
When asked if he would support red flag laws if elected president, DeSantis responded: “No, I don’t think that’d be appropriate at all.”
“I think the mental health issue in our country, part of it is we do need more institutionalization, there are some people who are dangerous to society, a lot of them get put back on the streets, it will require more resources, but I think that that’s appropriate,” he said.
He said that the other part of fixing the issue was to hold violent criminals accountable by keeping them in prison for a very long time and not letting them back out on the streets.
“If you look at most of the crimes that are committed in this country, it’s people that have been in the justice system before and have gotten a slap on the wrist,” he said. “That’s happening all over this country, and we will hold people accountable.”
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He noted that his state’s crime rate is at a 50-year low because his administration has enabled law enforcement to do their jobs.
WATCH:
Unlike Donald Trump, @RonDeSantis will never support a red flag law as president.
“So it’s safe to say a President DeSantis would not sign any kind of national red flag law?”
DeSantis: “No” pic.twitter.com/b8GM3J6eLw
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) October 27, 2023