This bill creates a federal program to support State, Tribal, and local extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs). It offers grants to States, Tribes, local governments, and other entities that adopt ERPO laws meeting the bill’s requirements. Eligible programs may use grant money for staffing, training, technical help, data work, court and law enforcement procedures, firearm removal and storage planning, and public outreach. Grant recipients must spend at least 25% and no more than 70% of grant funds on law enforcement training related to ERPOs.
The bill defines ERPOs as court orders or warrants whose main purpose is to stop a person from having, owning, buying, possessing, or receiving firearms, or to require removal or surrender of firearms. It sets basic procedural rules that qualifying State or Tribal laws must include: a written petition describing facts, notice and an opportunity to be heard, hearings within a set time (not later than 30 days), standards for issuing orders (preponderance of the evidence or a higher State/Tribal standard), and rules for ex parte orders (short-term orders issued before a hearing if probable cause is found).
The bill amends federal law so that a person subject to a qualifying ERPO that meets notice and hearing requirements and includes a finding of danger is prohibited from possessing or receiving firearms under federal law. It also requires courts and agencies to report ERPOs to national background-check and crime information systems and allows ERPOs to be included in those databases. The Attorney General must make ERPO entries available in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and update entries within 30 days of notification.
The bill requires annual reports from grant recipients with counts of petitions, orders issued or denied, renewals, penalties for false petitions, demographic data for petitioners and respondents (if available), and number of firearms removed (if available). It extends full faith and credit so that qualifying ERPOs issued by one State or Tribe must be recognized and enforced by other States and Tribes if the issuing court had jurisdiction and provided reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard. Tribal courts are given explicit civil authority to issue and enforce ERPOs within Indian country. The bill takes effect 180 days after enactment.
If your State or Tribe adopts ERPO laws that meet the bill’s rules, your local courts and law enforcement can seek court orders to remove firearms from people the court finds pose a danger to themselves or others. People subject to those qualifying orders would become federally prohibited from possessing or receiving firearms while the order is in effect. Grant money could pay for training for police, judges, and others, and for public outreach and court procedures. ERPOs issued in one qualifying State or Tribe would generally be recognized and enforceable in other States and Tribes under the bill’s full faith and credit provisions.
The bill authorizes grants and says there are "such sums as are necessary" to carry out the grant program. It does not list specific dollar amounts or provide a cost estimate. No other specific federal spending amounts are given in the bill text.
The bill states its purpose: to support State, Tribal, and local efforts to remove access to firearms from individuals who are a danger to themselves or others through court orders. It links grant support, training, data reporting, and interstate enforcement to that objective.
No publicly available information.