MASS SHOOTINGThe Buffalo Shooting Suspect Once Threatened a Mass Shooting. Why Wasn’t He Disarmed?

By Jennifer Mascia

Published 21 May 2022

The Buffalo mass shooter was taken into custody by police last June after he threatened to carry out a shooting at his Western New York high school. He was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, and released a couple of days later. None of that prevented him from buying a gun, or keeping the ones he already owned. New York has a red flag law, but it wasn’t invoked.

The 18-year-old racist extremist who murdered 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket on May 14 was taken into custody by police last June after he threatened to carry out a shooting at his Western New York high school. He was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, and released a couple of days later.

None of that prevented him from buying a gun, or keeping the ones he already owned. 

New York State is one of 19 states with a red flag law, and in the shooting’s aftermath, lawmakers, community members, and gun-safety advocates are asking why it wasn’t invoked in this case. 

Here we break down the law, and try to answer some of those questions. 

How Does New York’s Red Flag Law Work?
The state’s extreme risk protection order (ERPO) law, which took effect in August 2019, allows police, family members, or school officials to petition a court to seize guns from people deemed a threat to themselves or others.

Petitioners can fill out an application online. They will be asked to provide reasons justifying the order, and they’re encouraged to bring supporting documents. There’s space to list the model, caliber, serial number, and location of any firearms in the respondent’s possession. Petitioners must then take the application into court, where a judge will look it over and decide that day whether a temporary extreme risk protection order will be issued. 

If the judge issues a temporary ERPO, a police officer will serve the respondent and immediately remove any guns in their possession. A hearing is then held within the next three to 10 days during which the judge will hear from both parties and determine whether to issue a final order, which can last up to a year. Sixty days before the order is set to expire, the petitioner can file a petition with the court to renew it. When a final ERPO expires, the respondent must file an application with the court to get their guns back. 

If a judge declines to issue a final ERPO, the case concludes, and the proceedings leave no trace on the gun owner’s background check history. Likewise, after a final ERPO has expired, respondents should have no problems buying guns in the future.