Champions at Work: Extreme Risk Protection Orders in Action

Whether it is a horrific mass shooting that impacts scores of people or a suicide that devastates a family, these tragedies have rippling effects through communities and are preceded by warning signs, most often known to loved ones or the police. Extreme Risk laws provide law enforcement and family members with a tool to intervene proactively when someone is in crisis—before it turns into an incident of gun violence. Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) are court-issued civil orders that temporarily remove firearm access from those who are showing signs of harming themselves or others. As of 2024, 21 states and Washington, DC, have adopted these lifesaving laws. ERPOs are an effective suicide prevention measure and have been used successfully to avert threats of mass violence. From the implementation of the first Extreme Risk law in 1999 through 2023, nearly 49,000 ERPO petitions have been filed. While ERPO usage has increased significantly, wide variations persist between and within states. For a policy that has grown in popularity over the past few years as a leading gun violence prevention tool, there is still a lot to learn about how these laws are being implemented and what’s happening on the ground.

To address this gap and to shine a bright light on the cities, counties, and states that have taken strong steps to use ERPOs, we interviewed experts––or, as we like to call them, ERPO champions––from across the country. These champions come from a variety of professional roles ranging from law enforcement to victim advocates, and were often the pioneers in their communities helping to set up protocols for ERPO implementation and refine the processes along the way. Each conversation provides insights into the process followed in their jurisdictions, the stakeholders involved, the types of use cases, the challenges faced, and the lessons learned that others can apply to their own communities. As more states consider this policy and ERPO states look to increase their usage, these case studies can serve as inspiration and a practical guide to improve ERPO implementation.