Explained | What are ‘red flag’ gun laws?

The 18-year-old gunman behind the shooting in Buffalo, New York, had previously said that he wanted to commit a mass shooting at his high school

The story so far: An 18-year-old gunman went on a shooting rampage on May 14 at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people and injuring three others in what is being called a racially motivated act of domestic terrorism. Of the 13 people shot by the accused Payton Gendron, 11 were black. 

The accused was indicted for first-degree murder by a grand jury on May 18, according to news reports.

While U.S. law agencies are continuing to investigate the suspected hate crime, New York’s ‘red flag’ gun law, a r estrictive law restricting dangerous individuals from possessing firearms, has found itself at the centre of several debates. Many argue that the law did not keep Mr. Gendron away from guns, considering that he made remarks in his high school last year about carrying out a mass shooting. 

Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law, more commonly called ‘red flag’ law in the U.S., is aimed at gun control. Under such a law, a court can restrict an individual, identified to be at risk of causing violence to the self or others, from accessing firearms for a temporary period.

Police would remove guns from the possession of those identified to be dangerous and they will also be restricted from purchasing new weapons for a specified period of time. The time period for which the individual will be barred from possessing firearms varies from state to state and typically lasts for a year.

As many as 19 states and the District of Columbia have implemented some form of red flag law, according to Johns Hopkins University. Connecticut, in 1999, became the first state to pass an ERPO law.

In June 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice provided a model legislation for states to implement red flag laws.