What if they DID state they intend to do a bad thing, and DID a ton of prep to do the bad thing..and that person or group is deemed a terrorist threat..The FBI 'breaks up' terrorist plots all the time, try and convict these people..but some haven't actually haven't really committed any crime..
Everything is dependent on the specifics of the individual case, of course, but in general the reason the FBI breaks up terrorist plots is that they have actually done something that is a crime, during their prep to do the bad thing that is their main intent.
the "mad bombers" are a good example. They can say they intend to do it. Announce it to the world via a manifesto, or just tell a few "friends" (including the FBI informant/undercover guy..) IF that statement of intent reaches the level of credible threat, then legal action can be taken. IF not, its free speech, and no legal action can be taken.
Doing the prep for the bad thing, however can and often is a crime itself. again, using the bomber as an example, having the base raw materials for a bomb may not be a crime (nearly everyone has them), but putting them together to make a bomb IS a crime.
So, that mad bomber is just a loon spouting off, using his right to free speech, UNTIL he starts actually making a bomb. Then he's a criminal to be arrested. We don't have to wait (and don't want to wait) until he sets the bomb OFF.
And now here we have the Red Flag laws, with are targeted against firearms, FOR NOW. How long before people needing to feel safe gets those laws expanded? And the risks we all face because of that.
Again, lets use the mad bomber as just one example. Virtually every household in the country has the materials in it to make a bomb. In the kitchen, the bathroom, the garage, common household chemicals put together the right way, will make a bomb. If you have a car with airbags, you have detonators. If you didn't fail high school chemistry then you "know" how to do it. (whether or not you actually learned or remember doesn't matter, a passing grade will "prove" to a judge you have (or could have) the knowledge needed.
Even if you failed or never took chemistry, if you have Internet access, you COULD have the instructions...
Ready to have them seize your car, because you MIGHT use it as a source for a bomb detonator? IF someone is scared of you, of what they think you MIGHT do, an expanded Red Flag law allows them to do it. Not today, but perhaps tomorrow...
How about seizing your bank accounts?? After all, you MIGHT use money to buy something dangerous....
Think these are ridiculous extremes? I don't. Unlikely, TODAY, yes, but not impossible, who knows what tomorrow will bring?
Do remember that we. as a people, though our elected representative government LEGALLY sent people who LOOKED Japanese to interment camps. Stripped them of their legally owned property, and ignored their legal rights, and sent them to prison camps. We did this because of fears of what they MIGHT do.
And, we didn't officially recognize it as wrong, until more then 40 years later!
Red Flag laws are a "shoot first, figure it out later" solution to a problem that may or may not exist, the downside of them in that by the time you figure out if the problem actually exists or not, you've already shot someone.
