Colorado's Red Flag Law - Abuse Potential

When writing laws, the lawmaker, especially the sponsors, should consider not only what the new law purports to do, but what it can do if it's abused. Any law that can be abused, will be and we've all seen examples of this.

The Colorado red flag law follows the usual format of letting a list of people including disgruntled co-workers, spouses, acquaintances, and any policeman to request of a judge that someones gun rights be suspended. No firm evidence is required so reasons range from crazy ex to spiteful ex. Somehow I can see the state issuing a standard form which anyone can fill out against anyone else, and hand to any policeman. The cop is now in a position where the accused may or may not be dangerous, but if he does nothing and the accused kills someone, it's his butt that gets fried. So Officer Friendly dutifully passes the paper on to a judge, passing that buck up one notch. The judge may believe that the accusations are complete BS, but like the cop, he doesn't want to be the scapegoat, so he signs off on the confiscation of the guns.

Somehow I can see the trial/divorce lawyers guild coming up with a boilerplate form for a client to fill out and hand to the police. Something like this:

Click to enlarge. The accused now has 2 weeks to prove to the judge that he/she isn't dangerous to anyone. Good luck with that. I admit to adding the check boxes in the supporting observations area* but I'm sure someone will be able to help the accuser put things in that are less obviously B.S. Is this abuse of the law? Sure, but what was the point of it if not to ease the process of disarming the populace?

O.K. I admit to writing the whole thing. I apologize in advance if this thing shows up on some law firms letterhead.