This is my opinion, and only my opinion. If an individual makes an obvious and credible threat to public safety, I think he should have his firearms confiscated, if any, until such time as his due process rights and innocence can be argued in a court of law. That is the current unfortunate condition we live in.
Really? So citizens face the loss of their "Rights" based upon what? Who decides what is a "real" threat that is a violation of law. And how does an individual lose his "Rights" absent a conviction. The "Rights" and individual is "entitled" to just don't go away because of expediency or sensitivity of the potential crime.
Quite honestly, I see little difference nowadays between someone making a credible threat on social media, and intentionally pointing a gun at someone, which is reckless endangerment.
Unfortunately, there is a very "HUGE" difference between speech and action! Speech can be misinterpreted very easily. Pointing a gun at someone is a clear and viable threat!
If someone points a gun at you, are you going to defend them by giving them the benefit of the doubt that they were never going to pull the trigger? You don't think that the police should be called and a crime reported? You don't think that the person should be arrested? What about their weapons? In my youth, we didn't have social media. We had face to face social interactions. Then again, we didn't walk into schools shooting each other either.
There are laws in the books regarding social media, apply the law. Every individual has the "Right" to a jury trial for any alleged crime and upon "conviction" then do what the law allows. Likewise, if the person represents a credible threat to himself or others, there are laws that can be applied. But the slipstream process of losing your "Rights" based upon allegations is unacceptable! We see so much of it today, especially with this "Me Too" movement, it's sad... Just wait for the backlash!
Allow me to clarify my hasty phone post. I think that if someone, for instance, posts something along the lines of a threat, like a school shooting, on social media, and someone sees and reports it, it should be investigated by the police. If the threat is obvious, say a plainly visible post on facebook, for all the world to see, and not simply hearsay, then that evidence should be brought to a judge's attention by the police, and a search warrant obtained. If, in fact, the individual in question is in possession of a weapon that would substantiate the threat, an arrest should be made, and it should be confiscated in accordance with the search warrant and/or other orders by a judge of competent jurisdiction until such time as the person is arraigned, or has their day in court, as the case may be and as the judge sees fit to rule, and if a judge orders it, or if found innocent, their weapon(s) returned. By the same token, if I pointed a firearm at someone and threatened to kill them, for no justifiable reason, I would fully expect to be arrested and my firearm confiscated, at the very least for evidence purposes, until I had my day in court. I think that that is as fair as due process can make it.
I do think these are very sad and unfortunate times. Kids are being shot in schools. Threats to commit those acts should be taken very seriously. More seriously than the FBI took them in Fla. I have grandchildren in schools. That's the last phone call I ever want to receive.
OK, so if I blast on social media I'm going to a big party, and driving there... Can my vehicles be confiscated based upon the "Minority Report" predictability of a supposed crime which "may" be committed (DWI)?
This post is more in line with reality and what should happen, but the post on social media isn't enough most of the time to create or justify a "reasonable suspicion", and a search warrant to "fish" for credibility of being able to carry out a threat is a huge stretch!
Nobody likes or condones the mental miget miscreants who carry out these evil deeds, no more than those terrorist who flew planes into those towers, but that doesn't mean our system should be dismantled for contemporary convenience. Unfortunate as it may be...
Florida is a great example of how the system fails... So if we institute the relaxed constitutional protections as you suggest to prevent future occurances like Florida, what do we do next when that fails? Where does the slippery slope bottom out? So you see... That funny little thing called the "Bill of Rights" remains and shall remain, or it all means nothing! Despite whatever current events and emotional hysteria might lend to thinking otherwise.
Regards!