President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice announced over the weekend the launch of the “National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press release that the new national resource center “will provide our partners across the country with valuable resources to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others.”
“The establishment of the Center is the latest example of the Justice Department’s work to use every tool provided by the landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to protect communities from gun violence,” Garland said.
Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), often referred to as “red flag” laws, allow authorities to confiscate firearms from a person whom a court deems to be a risk to himself or others.
The resource center, launched with a new website, is described as “a resource for implementers” that will “provide training and technical assistance to law enforcement officials, prosecutors, attorneys, judges, clinicians, victim service and social service providers, community organizations, and behavioral health professionals responsible for implementing laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a threat to themselves or others.”
The National ERPO Resource Center website also provides a state-by-state guide for red flag laws across the country.
Republicans took to social media to show their dissatisfaction of the center, saying they did not authorize the decision.
“A Federal Red Flag center; We did not authorize this. Announced, of course, just hours after the omnibus passes,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said on X.
