The Republican leader of the Minnesota Senate says he’s “definitely open” to addressing mental health issues as a way to reduce gun violence, but a proposed “red flag” law is not the way to go. Senator Paul Gazelka says current law already takes guns away from someone when they’re put on a 72-hour mental health hold or civilly committed. He says the “problem is we’re not doing I think a good enough job identifying people that are in that place…. We have to get better at identifying folks and making sure that they’re the ones that don’t have the gun.”
Gazelka says the problem with the proposed “red flag” law is it leaves the decision to someone other than medical professionals. And he argues universal background checks do little to address the cause of gun violence.