GUNSThis Law May Help Prevent Mass Shootings, but GOP-Led States Are Trying to Ban It
Red flag laws once enjoyed support from across the political spectrum. Now, six Republican-controlled states have prohibited enforcing the orders — and in some cases, prescribed fines or criminal charges for officials who try. Three other states are considering similar bans in 2026.
This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here. The story was published in partnership with Stateline, a nonprofit news outlet that reports on the big challenges that cross state borders.
On May 18, 2018, a teenager at Santa Fe High School in Texas walked into the school armed with his father’s guns and opened fire, killing eight students and two teachers. Evidence later showed the teen had been experiencing a severe and spiraling mental health crisis leading up to the attack.
But Texas had no mechanism that would have allowed law enforcement or anyone else to petition a court to temporarily remove firearms from the home. Last year, the state made sure it never would: Lawmakers banned extreme risk protection orders, which allow police and families to ask judges to temporarily remove guns from dangerous people.
Christina Delgado, a Santa Fe resident who became a gun reform advocate after the shooting, told state lawmakers the attack might have been prevented with the kind of legal remedy the bill sought to ban. “Had timely and appropriate intervention and support been provided to that family, a different outcome may have been achieved,” she told a Texas Senate committee considering the bill.
They still passed the measure. And Texas is not alone. A growing number of states are outlawing the orders meant to quickly — and temporarily — take guns from people at imminent risk of hurting themselves or others.
ERPO laws, also known as red flag laws, once enjoyed support from across the political spectrum, including from President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association, which in 2018 advocated federal funding to help states implement the measures. Now, six states have prohibited enforcing the orders — and in some cases, prescribed fines or criminal charges for officials who try. Three other states are considering similar bans in 2026.
Researchers and advocates warn the trend could leave courts, police, and families navigating a patchwork of conflicting rules. It could also undermine a tool widely credited with preventing suicides, which make up the majority of U.S. gun deaths.
“We’re very concerned about the trajectory of anti-ERPO laws, both in the rise in the number of states passing these laws and the escalations within the laws themselves,” said Emily Walsh, a law and policy adviser at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
