Florida's 'red flag' gun law in spotlight after shootings

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - The President Monday discussed Red Flag Laws when talking about this weekend's two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Those laws are very similar to what Florida passed after the Parkland school shooting.

The legislation is backed by both lawmakers and law enforcement who agree passing it on a federal level would help prevent some of these mass shootings. Back-to-back shootings in El Paso and Dayton have people reeling and lawmakers fired up.

"We also need to honor them with action," said U.S. Representative Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee.

Aware of how hard it's been to pass gun legislation, U.S. Congressman Darren Soto says federal "Red Flag" gun laws are the way to go. The law allows you to file a Risk Protection Order against anyone you know who shows any "red flags."  

"It starts with whether a person may be suspected of being an injury to themselves or others," said Rep. Soto.

A judge then determines whether the person has to hand over their guns to law enforcement.

"That can be for 10 days or 20 days or 30 days. It's a cooling-off period. The person's assessed. That's common sense approach," said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood.

The law passed in Florida shortly after the Parkland school shooting. Since then, the Orange County Sheriff's office had 11 protection orders filed. As of two weeks ago, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement had 1,697 active orders.

"It's still not a big number relative to the number of people who are in Florida, but if it saves lives, the temporary removal of those guns is well worth it," said Rep. Soto.

The congressman is now helping push the federal bill, expecting it to have the same bipartisan support the state version had.

"We start with the bills that the vast majority of Americans support. Then from there we can debate the tougher things."

The federal bill was proposed in June.