Judge Andrew Napolitano recently appeared on “Fox & Friends” and he pushed back against people who may be too open to new gun legislation following the mass shootings on El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.

In the wake of reports that the Dayton, Ohio shooter had previously displayed concerning behavior and even made a “rape list” in high school, “Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt argued that there were clear “red flags” in the case of the Ohio shooter and she wondered aloud whether “red flag” laws would have been “common sense” and prevented the disaster.

Napolitano argued that the “red flags” Earhardt referred to are “only apparent with hindsight.”

The Fox News host countered that if she knew of a kid in high school had a “rape list,” she would get the kid “a lot of help and a lot of prayer.”

“I would not want a gun in that child’s hands,” she added.

Napolitano said, “This was an adult, not a child.” He added that the actions Earhardt was referring to occurred when the shooter “was a child.”

He continued, “I’m not defending his behavior, but honest law-abiding people should not lose their rights because some judge thinks they might do something in the future. That’s the Soviet Union model, not the American model.”

He said it’s important to try and prevent crime, but we must also know the limitations of the Constitution.

“Anything they can do to deter people from committing a crime is probably a good thing, as long as they don’t violate the Constitution,” the Fox News senior judicial analyst said.

Napolitano argued that the federal government cannot pass these proposed laws, but can “encourage” states to do so.

“The theory of the Constitution is we don’t punish people or take their rights away from them because of what they might do, what they could do, because of what we fear they’ll do, but only because of what they have done,” he said.

Napolitano admitted that President Donald Trump is in a “real bind” in his attempts to prevent mass shootings without stepping on the Second Amendment.

Speaking to the press on Wednesday morning, the president said that he is currently working with congressional leadership on new legislation to curb future gun violence. While he said there is no “appetite” for the banning of specific guns or high-capacity magazines, he did sound open to expanded background checks.

“Background checks are important,” Trump said, adding that he wants to keep guns out of the hands of “mentally unstable people” and “people with rage or hate.” He promised “background checks like never before.”

He added that there has been a lot of progress in his talks with members of Congress.

“We have made a lot of headway in the last three days,” he added. The president said he will call members of Congress back from their August recess if his discussions with congressional leadership get close enough to a real deal.

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Zachary Leeman

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Zachary Leeman is originally from Maine, he served in the United States Army Reserve for six years. He currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

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