Due to a couple of recent mass shootings, U.S. Congress has been getting public pressure to consider passing red flag laws as a way to strengthen gun safety measures nationally.

A red flag law allows law enforcement or family members to petition the courts to have firearms temporarily removed from someone they believe is a danger to themselves or others. Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District Representative Steve King is opposed to pushing red flag laws through Congress.

“They (red flag laws) bypass anything that we would describe as ‘due process.’ Unless people, sometimes anonymous people even, carry out a grudge against someone, made with just suspicion involved.”

King goes on to say that mass killings are, what he calls, a recent phenomenon. He says from 1917 to the 80s, there were about five or six mass killings. Then by the 90s, King points out it seems like mass killings went from every other year to every year and now it’s multiple times per year. To come up with solutions, King says he’s drafting a bill that will focus on a comprehensive study of these mass killers. 

“I want a psycho-analysis of them, I want to know what kind of pharmaceuticals are prescribed to them, I want to know what their habits are as far as are they supplementing a legal prescription with illegal drugs? Is he in the basement playing video games? Has he been disconnected with reality, (and) how did he adjust socially? I want an objective look so that we know what a profile of a mass killer looks like.”

While the bill hasn’t been introduced yet, King believes that this information could help guide Congress to a better solution than passing red flag laws against firearms.