First Man Charged Under Florida’s ‘Red Flag’ Law For Refusing To Surrender Weapons Voluntarily

• Man convicted after violating ‘red flag’ law
• Law allows authorities to confiscate weapons
• Man to face up to 5 years in prison

A man was charged with the 'red flag' law after refusing to surrender his weapons to the authorities voluntarily. The man accused in the case was the first person to be charged with accordance to the 'red flag' law.

The accused, identified as 33-year-old Jerron Smith was convicted to be in violation of the law as he refused to voluntarily surrender his weaponry to the authorities. The violation could lead to up to five years of a jail sentence after the Broward County jury’s decision to overrule Smith’s appeals that he lacked clarity in understanding the law. He was convicted after a trial on Friday.

The local reports suggested that the accused was also on trial for another incident where he was accused of shooting six bullets on a vehicle being driven by his friend. In relation to the incident, the authorities had seized an AR-15 rifle and a .22 caliber rifle from the accused in March 2018. The accused was charged with attempt to murder and was being tried for the same.

The accused refused to surrender the weapons after the court order was issued for the same in connection with another shooting incident. Smith a resident of Deerfield Beach, Florida, became the first person to be convicted under the law.

Florida’s 'red flag' law which came into existence in the year 2018 was implemented to allow authorities to appeal for a court order for the confiscation of weapons of people that may cause harm to oneself or others as well. Florida is one of the 15 states in the U.S. to implement the law.

The trials in the case were completed and the sentencing of the same was not decided.