A man in Florida became the first person to be charged and found guilty under the state’s “Red Flag” law that was passed in 2018, according to multiple reports.
Fox News reported that Jerron Smith, a 33-year-old man from Deerfield Beach, Florida, was found guilty for refusing to hand over his firearm. The jury in Broward County found him guilty of breaking the “Red Flag” law. They also rejected his argument when he said he didn’t understand the nature of the law, and as a result Smith now faces up to 5 years behind bars, according to The Sun.
Fox News reported that the jury spent just half a minute to discuss the verdict.
The Sun reported that he had been given the order to surrender his weapon due to a crime he committed in March 2018, when he opened fire at a car that was driven by his friend. He was charged with attempted murder following that incident, according to Facebook.
In addition, Fox News reported that Smith was also subjugated under a risk protection order following the passing of the “Red Flag” law for the Parkland high school mass shooting in February 2018.
Authorities had confiscated his weapon arsenal which consisted of a Glock handgun, a .22 caliber rifle, and an AR-15 assault rifle, according to Fox News.
Smith was an army veteran at the time of his arrest, with his neighbor saying he had acquired many weapons.
“He spent a lot to money for this weaponry, it’s crazy. You just got to live around here to know what’s going on,” the neighbor Lorenzo Brown said, according to Fox News.
The New York Times reported that “Red Flag” laws allow “the police to temporarily confiscate firearms from people who are deemed by a judge to be a danger to themselves or to others.”
The outlet reported that it is usually family members who put in the request to have law enforcement to confiscate firearms when the said person has expressed the intent to either harm themselves or someone else. Under these cases, authorities can request an order to confiscate the weapons from these individuals. Also, these individuals would be banned from purchasing further weapons.
Fox News reported that a sentencing date had not been set.