A man from Deerfield Beach, Florida, faces a potential of five years in prison after being convicted for defying the state’s “red flag” law, which allows authorities to confiscate weapons from those deemed to be at high risk of committing a crime. The case is the first conviction under the state’s relatively new gun law, which was passed in part as a response to the horrific mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Since the red flag law went into effect in March 2018, Florida has seized guns from over 2,000 residents of the state. But while the state has taken thousands of weapons, it has not convicted anyone for violating the law — until this week. As reported by the Sun Sentinel, after being charged in March 2018 under the law for refusing to hand over his firearms, Jerron Smith, 33, was convicted by a Broward Circuit court this week on charges carrying as many as five years in prison.
“Smith was arrested in 2018, accused of shooting at a car driven by a friend with whom he was having an argument over a borrowed cellphone,” the outlet reports, noting that the victim was unhurt. In response, law enforcement officers issued a “risk protection order” requiring Smith to give up his weapons.
When the orders arrived at his home, Smith “did not fully understand how far his rights extended, or more significantly, how far they did not,” the Sun Sentinel reports. His defense lawyer, Jim Lewis, insists that Smith simply did not understand that the new law gave authorities the power to seize his weapons. – READ MORE