Extreme risk protection order laws, commonly known as “red flag” laws, are currently on the books in 19 states and the District of Columbia. Generally speaking, these laws allow firearms to be removed temporarily from individuals whom a judge has determined present an imminent risk of harm to themselves or others. The laws often specify […]
[This is a guest post based on a paper that was presented at the Center’s 2022 Firearms Law Works-In-Progress Workshop.] In the aftermath of the tragic Uvalde shooting, Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), more commonly known as “red flag laws,” were touted by policymakers, bloggers, and gun control groups as a potential way to address […]
In the aftermath of tragic mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, a bipartisan committee introduced the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” (or BSCA) in the Senate on Tuesday, June 21. By week’s end, the bill had passed the Senate. The House of Representatives followed suit on Friday, and the bill was signed into […]
Katrina Brees Tells Her Mother’s Story I know my mom didn’t shoot herself because she wanted to be dead. She did it because she was in unbearable pain and in the throes of a psychiatric episode. My mom, Donna Nathan, loved her life. She loved to dance to Cajun music and The Beatles. She’d grab […]
The University of Alabama Law School’s Law & Psychology Review has now published several pieces that came out of a symposium last year, Seeing Red: Risk-based Gun Regulation about (primarily) Extreme Risk Protection Order Laws (also known as red flag laws). Joseph and I presented on our Virginia Law Review piece “Firearms, Extreme Risk, and Legal Design: […]
The Quinnipiac Law Review recently published a series of essays from a symposium discussion of Ian Ayres and Frederisk Vars’ recent book, Weapon of Choice: Fighting Gun Violence While Respecting Gun Rights. I wasn’t able to find publicly accessible copies, but some excerpts are below (including from our own Joseph Blocher). Joseph Blocher, Two Concepts of […]
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Caniglia v. Strom. At issue in the case was whether police could enter a home and search and seize items without a warrant when conducting “community caretaking functions” (i.e., not traditional criminal investigation). The Court had held in 1973, in Cady v. Dombrowski, that […]
The Journal of Law, Medicine, & Ethics recently published a special volume, Gun Violence in America: An Interdisciplinary Examination. The volume was pulled together and edited by Yale Law School’s Ian Ayres, Abbe Gluck, and Tracey Meares with articles largely co-authored with law students from their gun violence seminar last year. Joseph and I have […]
On his campaign website, President-Elect Joe Biden lists several of his administration’s priorities for firearm regulation. Since the actual policy proposals are not spelled out in depth, it is hard to evaluate the precise details of his plan. And, of course, the ones that require congressional action are much less likely to pass if the […]
In a decision earlier this week, Doe v. Governor of Pennsylvania, the Third Circuit rejected a facial due process challenge by two men whose mental health commitments rendered them ineligible to possess firearms. They challenged a Pennsylvania law that forbids anyone who has been “committed to a mental institution for inpatient care and treatment” under […]
As Joseph and I continue editing our forthcoming article on Extreme Risk Protection Order laws–and how these laws can withstand due process challenges–more legal scholarship on these laws is cropping up. Out now is an article raising concerns about the implications of such laws that look to First Amendment protected activity as a factor in […]
This past week, Joseph and I just finished another round of edits on our forthcoming Virginia Law Review article, Firearms, Extreme Risk, and Legal Design: “Red Flag” Laws and Due Process. Doing those edits, and working on another draft paper related to extreme risk laws, led me to dive more deeply into the statistics that […]
Jefferson Davis (not that one), a Gilchrist County Sheriff’s deputy, allegedly threatened to kill another deputy after he discovered that his girlfriend had been involved with the man. His colleagues sought and obtained a Risk Protection Order (“RPO”) under Florida’s new “red flag” law. Davis appealed, raising a number of challenges to the RPO entered […]
Last night at Duke, we held a fantastic panel discussion with distinguished guests Professors Kristin Goss & Jeffrey Swanson and North Carolina Representative Marcia Morey to discuss Extreme Risk laws, often called Red Flag laws. These are laws that allow law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms from individuals that a court determines are a danger […]
