Colorado’s Red Flag Law Now in Effect

(CBS4) — Two years ago Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy Zackari Parrish was killed in the line of duty, killed by a heavily armed and mentally unstable man. Since his death, Colorado lawmakers have been pushing for change passing the Zackari Parrish violence prevention act, also known as Colorado’s Red Flag law.

“I think the intention is good and we just want to make sure we handle it the right way,” Denver Police Department Division Chief of investigations Joe Montoya said.

The law allows family members or law enforcement to ask a judge to temporarily remove guns from the possession of someone deemed an extreme risk to themselves or others. If a judge agrees, law enforcement officers are tasked with the removal of those weapons leaving agencies across Colorado to figure out the best approach.

“We broke down the laws we got a firm understanding of the interpretation and we did a lot of scenarios, built out a lot of scenarios and went through the what if’s how should we do this,” Montoya said.