A court case involving a loaded handgun found inside a student’s backpack at Kathleen High School in May will help define the parameters of Florida’s “red flag law,” Sheriff Grady Judd told The Ledger. The Polk Sheriff’s Office has used the 2018 law 858 times to seize weapons from people deemed by a judge to be a threat to themselves or others. The KHS case is one of 99 PCSO requests for protective order that were denied by judges, and the first one that Judd is appealing to a higher court.

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Barry Friedman founded Lkldnow.com in 2015 as the culmination of a career in print and digital journalism. Since 1982, he has used the tools of reporting, editing and content curation to help people in Lakeland understand their community better.