Allows law enforcement, family members and medical professionals to petition a court to temporarily prohibit someone “at risk of harming themselves or others” from purchasing and possessing firearms.
The Department of Justice announced the launch of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center aimed at preventing individuals from purchasing or possessing firearms.
The DOJ’s announcement came just hours after the Senate and House passed a $1.2 trillion government spending bill on Saturday.
Justice Department Launches the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center
?: https://t.co/xH1deJu4SB pic.twitter.com/zUj0woxwrf
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) March 23, 2024
From the DOJ announcement:
The Justice Department launched the National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center (the Center) which will provide training and technical assistance to law enforcement officials, prosecutors, attorneys, judges, clinicians, victim service and social service providers, community organizations, and behavioral health professionals responsible for implementing laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a threat to themselves or others.
“The launch of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center will provide our partners across the country with valuable resources to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The establishment of the Center is the latest example of the Justice Department’s work to use every tool provided by the landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to protect communities from gun violence.”
ERPO laws, which are modeled off domestic violence protection orders, create a civil process allowing law enforcement, family members (in most states), and medical professionals or other groups (in some states) to petition a court to temporarily prohibit someone at risk of harming themselves or others from purchasing and possessing firearms for the duration of the order.
In other words, the government will be granted the authority to confiscate firearms or prevent individuals from purchasing them if medical professionals, family members, or law enforcement arbitrarily declares that they pose a threat.
Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and many others raised the alarm over the creation of a “federal red flag center,” citing its lack of constitutional authority.
“What the hell is this evil? A Federal Red Flag center; We did not authorize this. Announced, of course, just hours after the omnibus passes,” Massie wrote on X Saturday.
What the hell is this evil?
A Federal Red Flag center;
We did not authorize this.
Announced, of course, just hours after the omnibus passes. https://t.co/IkuK0aTeV8— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 23, 2024
“Merrick Garland just announced a massive Red Flag Operation that the DOJ will be running by using EVERY spy tool the US government has in order to violate American’s Second Amendment!! This comes right after Johnson fully funded Biden’s weaponized DOJ!” Greene wrote.
Merrick Garland just announced a massive Red Flag Operation that the DOJ will be running by using EVERY spy tool the US government has in order to violate American’s Second Amendment!!
This comes right after Johnson fully funded Biden’s weaponized DOJ! https://t.co/tScHgTbcy8
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene?? (@RepMTG) March 23, 2024
No constitutional authority. No oversight. Created and run by bureaucrats who you didn’t hire, you can’t fire, and who don’t think they work for you. https://t.co/e0gPvJyrE5
— Mayor John Huffman (@JohnRHuffman) March 23, 2024
Another weapon of the DOJ pointed at the American people. Not to protect them but to harass & harm them! https://t.co/GQYWSbSAqN
— Jerrod Sessler for Congress ’24 ?? (@Sessler) March 23, 2024
This is an entirely unconstitutional innovation https://t.co/vD3lQup08K
— Phil Labonte, Talent Terrorist (@philthatremains) March 23, 2024
The timing of the DOJ’s announcement is curious — it comes just days after a federal judge granted illegal aliens the right to carry firearms.
Will this apply to illegal aliens as well or just Americans?
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) March 23, 2024
Report yourself.https://t.co/cxzxDu4mWw
— Tired of being politically correct (@USBornNRaised) March 23, 2024
Of course, we can already assume the DOJ plans to leverage this newly minted Red Flag Center against law-abiding citizens, not the throngs of armed illegal aliens who have no right to be in this country.
