In Collier and Lee counties, 80% of residents named in risk protection orders were fighting to keep their guns under Florida’s red flag law with no lawyer to defend them. In many cases, risk protection order subjects are struggling financially, and can’t afford an attorney. Unfortunately, that often means that someone without even a basic understanding of courtroom procedures is ill-equipped to face trained city or county lawyers.
Stripping someone of a constitutional right without providing them a lawyer is a fundamental denial of one of the most basic premises of American liberty and freedom.
Additionally, Legal experts worry that targets of risk protection orders could jeopardize other pending criminal cases they may be involved in by defending themselves in a risk protection order hearing.
Florida’s red flag law allows police to petition the courts for a removal of gun rights for up to a year from individuals who have been flagged as ‘potentially dangerous’ by a member of the public at large. Because they are civil proceedings, rather than criminal, a public defender is not provided.
Overall, judges have approved approximately 90% of the risk protection orders that Collier and Lee law enforcement officers have sought to date.
