Press Releases

Today, the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force announced a new effort to force a vote on legislation led by Congresswoman Lucy McBath (GA-06) and Congressman Salud Carbajal (CA-24) to expand Americans’ access to ‘red flag laws’, which allow the removal of a gun from someone who is deemed by a court to pose a threat to themselves or others.

“Red flag laws should not be controversial. Studies have shown us that the vast majority of perpetrators of mass shootings show similar warning signs, including sharing their plans. And Republican and Democratic-led states alike have implemented them to protect communities and individuals from harm,” said Rep. Carbajal. “Since I came to Congress, I worked to get funding allocated to help expand use of these red flag laws, which we did through the Safer Communities Act. Expanding on that success with new avenues for intervention, new resources for training, and better standards for data would help more communities and save more lives.”

If a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives signs the discharge petition, it would bypass House leadership and trigger a vote on the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, which was introduced by McBath and Carbajal in February 2023.

The legislation would:

• Unlock the ability for federal courts to issue Extreme Risk Protection Orders temporarily removing guns from someone who is deemed to pose a risk to others or themselves. Law enforcement officers, family members, or household members would be eligible to petition the court.
• Instruct the Department of Justice to create a dedicated grant program to help states, local governments, Indian tribes, and other entities implement extreme risk protection order laws. This is similar to Rep. Carbajal’s Extreme Risk Protection Order Expansion Act.
• Extend federal firearms restrictions to individuals who are subject to extreme risk protection orders, and expand related data collection.

The legislation would build on the $750 million investment in crisis intervention tools like red flag laws that was championed by Carbajal, McBath, and the Task Force and included in the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first federal gun safety package signed into law in 30 years. To date, $230 million has been awarded to 46 states across the U.S. – including $29 million to California.

Providing federal funding for states to expand use of red flag laws was an approach proposed by Carbajal through his Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, which he first introduced in 2017.

Rep. Carbajal has championed California’s Gun Violence Restraining Orders (GVROs) and other Extreme Risk Protection Orders since being elected to Congress in 2016, the same year that California adopted one of the nation’s first red flag laws.

Last year, Californians used more than 2,700 GVROs to remove a gun from a dangerous situation or individual who posed a danger to themselves or others. Central Coast counties saw 200 GVROs filed in 2023.

These restraining orders have helped make Californians 25% less likely to die in a mass shooting than the average American, and brought the state’s gun death rate to the 7^th lowest in the nation.

California’s adoption of a red flag law was inspired by the 2014 mass killing in Isla Vista, California in Rep. Carbajal’s congressional district and close to Carbajal’s alma mater, UC Santa Barbara.

Currently, 21 states and the District of Columbia have some form of red-flag laws.

Since Florida’s Republican legislature implemented their red flag law in the wake of the Parkland school shooting in 2018, law enforcement have used extreme risk laws more than 8,000 times to restrict and remove firearms from dangerous situations with known threats of violence and suicide, undoubtedly saving countless lives in the process.

In states like Indiana and Connecticut, passage of a red flag law was followed by a notable decline in suicide by firearm.

In past years, Carbajal’s efforts to promote red flag laws have enjoyed bipartisan support in the House and has received the endorsement of law enforcement agencies, teachers, and doctors.

In 2022, the California State Legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom approved an expansion of California’s red flag law allow eligible petitioners to include additional family members, roommates, individuals with a dating or co-parental relationship with a person who may pose a risk to themselves or others.