Just two days after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee called on state lawmakers to pass an unconstitutional gun-control bill in the wake of a deadly Christian school shooting, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission went to bat for the red-flag proposal, insisting there are no red flags in it.
In a video posted to Twitter, the ERLC praised the proposal for “upholding constitutional rights,” swore it achieves due process, and lectured viewers that Lee’s idea isn’t a red-flag law because reasons.
These reasons include claims that the proposal is merely an extension of existing “order of protection” rules, not a new law; that court petitions for firearm confiscation can be made only by law enforcement; and that the individuals in question must be notified of resulting court hearings so they can protest before their rights are stripped away. Some other states’ red-flag laws include emergency ex parte, meaning guns can be taken away before a court hearing, the ERLC states, but Lee’s proposal doesn’t include this option. Ergo, because Lee’s red-flag proposal differs a bit from other red-flag proposals, you can’t call it “red-flag.”
You don’t have to be a legislative guru, however, to see through the nonsense to the blatant partisanship. The biggest red flag of all is that President Joe Biden, who has made a habit of declaring war on the Second Amendment, personally endorsed Lee’s efforts — and called it a “red-flag law.”
The commission’s “explainer” wasn’t its only lobbying effort. ERLC President
