Abstract
Gun violence and police misconduct are two of the most challenging public safety issues facing the United States today. Both gun control efforts and endeavors to reimagine policing are hotly contested and often difficult to enact. But one form of gun control has achieved comparatively widespread political support in the past few years: red flag laws. Red flag laws focus on preventing people who pose a significant risk of harm to themselves or others from accessing the guns they would use to cause that harm. Because they are limited in application to people who pose a demonstrable safety risk, these laws enjoy more support than many other efforts at curbing gun violence.
This article imagines how red flag gun laws can serve as a model for preventing unjustified police violence by those whom the author coins “red flag officers.” Red flag officers are violence-prone officers whose history of misconduct makes them a demonstrable public safety threat to the communities they police. While red flag gun laws were not written with police officers in mind, their purpose—protecting the public from people who pose a proven threat to safety—aligns with the goals of those who seek to protect communities from police violence. The article begins by explaining red flag laws, and then explores concerns regarding violence-prone officers and departments that enable them. It concludes with law and policy proposals drawn from red flag gun laws that could protect the public from red flag officers.