To aid those who want to use preexisting “red flag” statutes to deny Americans their right to bear arms, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has established a new website, the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center.
The DOJ created the online tool with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. It connects the 21 states and DC with “red flag” statutes. The center offers training and technical support to those in charge of enforcing laws meant to prevent dangerous individuals from obtaining firearms. This includes judges, prosecutors, attorneys, clinicians, social service providers, community groups, and mental health experts.
The new system, according to the DOJ, will prevent gun deaths and is just one more way the government is putting the resources allocated by the historic Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to good use in the fight against gun violence. House and Senate Republicans were divided on the issue of the center’s establishment, with many seeing it as an unlawful attempt to seize firearms. Given the wide variation in red flag regulations from one state to another, the new DOJ resource portal stresses the need to centralize all relevant data.
Texas Republican John Cornyn was a staunch supporter of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which sought to increase background checks and provided funding for the Department of Justice’s new resource center. Additionally, the Biden administration said that red flag laws have shown to be successful in preventing mass shootings and suicides. However, it is crucial to note that the resources these laws provide can only help if individuals know them.
Under the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), there is an organization called the National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center. Its purpose is to inform and aid local officials in obtaining “red flag” orders, which revoke a person’s right to bear arms because they are a danger to themselves or others.
