Students join push to get guns away from people who could pose threat

A member of the March for Our Lives movement that grew out of the mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school last year, Greensboro high school student Nico Gleason has started Lobby for Our Lives in North Carolina. He said students need to start a conversation with lawmakers.

"Stop focusing on those extremes on either side, those extreme bills – let's arm everyone or or let's take away all guns," Gleason said. "I think we really need to start talking about how we can meet in the middle."

So-called "red flag" laws, also referred to as extreme risk protective orders, are a good example, he said. The laws allow family members or law enforcement to ask a judge to temporarily remove a person's firearms if the judge deems them an imminent public threat. The person would have a hearing within 10 days to determine if the order is lifted, and it would be a misdemeanor to falsely report someone.

"Every day we're seeing reports – not only the mass shootings but also the aftermath," Morey said. "We learned this week that three people have committed suicide as a result of Parkland and also a father at Sandy Hook [Elementary School in Connecticut, the site of a 2012 mass shooting]. This affects everybody."

Two-thirds of all gun deaths are suicides, and Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, said extreme risk protective orders can help family members get firearms away from a loved one at risk.

"Having access to a firearm triples one's risk of death by suicide," Harrison said.

Polls have shown strong public support for red flag laws in the 14 states that have adopted them. But the National Rifle Association has opposed many of those measures, saying they infringe on Second Amendment rights.

"Nobody wants dangerous people to have access to firearms, which is why the NRA supports risk protection orders that respect the due process of rights and ensure those found mentally ill receive the care they need. Most of the red flag laws passed last year, unfortunately, do none of that," NRA spokeswoman Catherine Mortensen said in an email to WRAL News.

"Not only do they fail to provide any sort of mental health treatment, but they allow the state to deny law-abiding gun owners their due process of rights. If the state can deny due process to these law-abiding residents, then what’s to stop them from denying any right to any group of people?​" Mortensen said.

A similar red flag bill is expected to be filed in the state Senate, but neither is likely to get a hearing without support from Republican lawmakers. So far, none has signed on.