Methodology: Extreme Risk Laws Save Lives
11/18/2025
This Methodological Note is a companion to Extreme Risk Laws Save Lives, which emphasizes the importance of Extreme Risk laws, a life-saving policy that temporarily prevents someone in crisis from accessing firearms. As part of this report, Everytown collected data annually starting in 2020 on extreme risk protection orders (ERPO) from each state to analyze and illustrate the implementation of the law within the state over time. Requests included: petitions filed and their outcomes, temporary and final orders issued, petitioner & respondent demographics, county-level data, and firearms seized. Data availability and quality varies significantly across states and years, with states providing different variables and levels of details. Everytown’s primary focus for this analysis was the unique number of petitions filed, even if the petition was ultimately denied, to demonstrate how often ERPOs were being used. However, if this data was unavailable, then the number of orders issued was used instead. This note provides information on the methodology used for each state to conduct this national assessment of ERPO usage.
California
Aggregated data for each year is provided online by the California Department of Justice (DOJ). Only data on the number of orders issued is provided, as information on petitions filed is not captured in the California Restraining and Protective Order System (CARPOS). Data represents the unique number of orders issued, which includes both emergency and final orders. Temporary orders that became a final order are only counted once.
Colorado
Incident-level data for each year is provided by the Colorado Judicial Branch. While Colorado’s law went into effect on April 12, 2019, the courts did not begin accepting petitions until January 2020. The number of petitions has been deduplicated by the case number provided to estimate the unique number of petitions filed, which includes both temporary and final petitions depending on what type of petition was filed by the petitioner. In Colorado, a petitioner can only file a temporary order petition or a final order petition.
Connecticut
Aggregated data for each year is provided by the Connecticut Judicial Branch. Starting in 2022, the courts provided incident-level data as well. Data represents the unique number of cases in which an order was issued. Everytown’s analysis of ERPO usage by county in Connecticut has been updated to reflect the state’s nine planning regions, which the U.S. Census Bureau formally adopted in 2024. Prior analyses used the historical eight counties. The county where the order was issued was determined based on the geographical location of the court.
Delaware
Aggregated data for each year is provided by the Delaware Superior Court, with the exception of 2018. Data is not available for this first year because Delaware’s law went into effect on December 27, 2018. Data represents the number of petitions filed based on the sum of the number of orders granted, the number of orders denied, and the number of orders that were determined to be of “other disposition.” It is unclear from the aggregated data if the number of orders granted, and denied include only final or temporary orders or both.
District of Columbia
Incident-level data for each year is provided by the Office of Attorney General for the District of Columbia. The number of petitions has been deduplicated by the case number provided to estimate the unique number of petitions filed. Petition counts under 20 have been suppressed, per the policy of the DC Courts.
Florida
Aggregated data for each year is provided by the Florida Courts. Data represents the total number of petitions filed, although the indicator used changed in 2022 to accommodate a change in reporting practices by the Florida Courts. For data between March 2018 and June 2022, only the number of temporary petitions filed was used to avoid duplicating petitions where both a temporary and final petition was filed. Starting in July 2022, data on the number of petitions for risk protection orders (RPO) filed was used to estimate the number of unique petitions filed. Per communication from the Florida Courts, this indicator should be used to capture the state’s updated, single petition form for both temporary and final petitions.
Hawaii
Aggregated data for each year is provided by the Hawaii State Judiciary. Data reflects the total number of petitions filed.
Illinois
Aggregated data for each year is provided by the Illinois State Police. Data represents the total number of orders issued based on the total number of Firearms Restraining Orders entered into Illinois’ statewide Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS). It is unclear from the aggregated data if the number of orders issued include only final or temporary orders or both.
Indiana
Incident-level data for each year is provided by the Indiana Courts. Data for 2020 to 2022 represents the total number of unique orders issued as data on petitions filed was not available during those years. Per guidance from the Indiana Courts, data prior to 2020 is considered unreliable and has therefore been excluded from this analysis. Starting in 2023, Indiana updated their system to incorporate a dedicated case type for ERPO cases, which allows for the Indiana Courts to more systematically track the number of ERPO cases in their system. Therefore, starting in 2023, the data represents the number of petitions filed. Analyses over time in Indiana should be used cautiously due to this change in reporting practice. Both the number of orders issued and the number of petitions filed were deduplicated by the case ID provided.
Maryland
Aggregated data for each year is provided online by the Maryland Courts. Data represents the total number of petitions filed. Data shown for 2018 reflects the period from October to December 2018 because Maryland’s law went into effect in October 2018.
Massachusetts
Aggregated data for each year is provided online by the Massachusetts Trial Court. Data reflects the number of petitions filed.
Michigan
Aggregated data is provided by Michigan’s State Court Administrative Office in their 2024 Annual Report. Data represents the total number of petitions filed based on the total number of ERPO complaints filed in the state.
Minnesota
Aggregated data by year is provided by the State Court Administrator’s Office. Data represents the total number of petitions filed based on the number of cases that included a “Petition for Extreme Risk Protection Order.”
Nevada
Aggregated data by year is provided by the Supreme Court of Nevada. Data represents the total number of petitions filed based on the number of new filings.
New Jersey
Aggregated data by year is provided by the New Jersey Courts. Data reflects the number of petitions filed.
New Mexico
Incident-level data for each year, starting in 2023 is provided by the New Mexico Courts while aggregate data was provided for the years prior. Data represents the total number of petitions filed based on the number of ERPO cases. The number of petitions has been deduplicated by the case number provided to estimate the unique number of petitions filed.
New York
Aggregated data by year is provided by the New York State Unified Court System. Data represents the total number of petitions filed based on the number of temporary or final ERPO applications filed.
Oregon
Incident-level data for each year is provided by the Oregon Judicial Department. Data represents the total number of petitions filed based on the number of ERPO cases. The number of petitions has been deduplicated by the case number provided to estimate the unique number of petitions filed.
Rhode Island
Incident-level data for each year is provided by the Rhode Island Judiciary. Data represents the total number of petitions filed based on the number of ERPO cases. While no unique case number is provided, it is assumed that each individual case in the data file received represents one unique case.
Vermont
Incident-level data for each year is provided by the Vermont Judiciary. Data represents the total number of petitions filed based on the number of ERPO cases. The number of petitions has been deduplicated by the case number provided to estimate the unique number of petitions filed.
Virginia
Incident-level data for each year is provided by the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Fairfax Circuit Court. Data represents the total number of petitions filed based on the number of ERPO cases. The number of petitions has been deduplicated by the case number provided to estimate the unique number of petitions filed.
Washington
Incident-level data for each year is provided by the Superior Court of Washington. Data from 2017 to 2021 represents the total number of orders issued since the courts were not able to identify all ERPO cases filed. Data from 2022 onward represents the total number of petitions filed based on the number of ERPO cases. Both the number of petitions and the number of orders have been deduplicated by the case number provided to estimate the unique number of cases. Data is not available for the first year because the law went into effect in December 2016. Prior to 2020, data for King County was collected and provided separately by the King County Superior Court. For all years, data is limited to Superior Court filings and does not include orders reported in courts of limited jurisdiction.