Source: Wall Street Journal
The most broadly adopted gun-control measure in the U.S. in recent years is rarely being used in many cities and counties, government data show. Nineteen states and Washington, D.C., now have red-flag laws, which allow authorities, and sometimes family members or co-workers, to ask judges to order the temporary seizure of guns from people threatening violence. But many jurisdictions have used the laws to take away few or no guns, a Wall Street Journal analysis of the data shows. In some cases, police failed to use the laws despite warnings about people who went on to carry out mass shootings. In other instances, family members fearful that relatives would commit violence weren’t aware that the measures existed.