Use of ‘red flag’ gun laws jumps

In the immediate aftermath of last year’s mass shooting at Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade came the expected questions when such a tragedy unfolds: Who was the gunman? Where had his weapon come from?

And in Illinois, a state run by gun control-minded Democrats, could laws be bolstered and were police using them as effectively as possible?

Experts have suggested what was on the books — if properly understood and implemented — potentially could have prevented the alleged shooter from obtaining the high-powered semi-automatic rifle used to rain bullets down on paradegoers, killing seven and wounding dozens more.

Ensuing efforts centered on so-called red flag gun laws and other measures designed to take away firearms from those whose backgrounds suggest they should not have access to them. And a Tribune analysis of available state data shows that the push by politicians, advocates and police leaders to use them more often seems to have had an effect in the year since the…