How Santa Clara County law enforcement is utilizing red flag laws to combat gun violence
Santa Clara County's district attorney and San Jose police say they've had great success using red flag laws to prevent gun violence. However, they worry too many people don't know about the laws.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office recently released a new PSA to educate the community about how effective those laws can be.
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San Jose police and the district attorney's office use red flag laws to save lives and prevent acts of suicide, domestic violence and even mass shootings.
Six hundred and eighty-three gun violence restraining orders were filed in the South Bay last year alone.
"That is more than all the other counties in the Bay Area combined," SCC District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. "And the reason we are so vigorous in using gun violence restraining orders, we have seen time and time again that it has prevented all kinds of gun violence."
Gun violence restraining orders can be granted when law enforcement believes a gun is in dangerous hands - the orders allow police to seize weapons immediately.
The problem is, because it's such an underutilized tool across the Bay Area, many don't even know these laws exist.
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The DA's Office and SJPD want the community to know how important they are in preventing violence.
A PSA video released Monday will soon be seen across the South Bay, including at local movie theaters.
DA Rosen hopes it will educate the public about how red flag laws and gun violence restraining orders can stop tragedies from occurring - especially given what we've just seen with Charlie Kirk.
"It's extremely important," Rosen said. "In several of our situations where we've gotten gun violence restraining orders, individuals were posting on social media that they were on their way to certain locations and that their intention when they arrived at that location was to shoot and kill as many people as possible. Getting the gun violence restraining order, in a matter of minutes, prevented that from happening."
Rosen says prevention wouldn't be possible without the call to 911 that to a restraining order - highlighting the importance of the PSA.
