On January 1, 2020, Colorado joined in having a 鈥渞ed flag鈥� law, a provision that allows police to temporarily seize guns from someone deemed to be an immediate threat to themselves or others. But the new laws often don鈥檛 lay out a process for actually seizing the guns, leaving local law enforcement to figure out for themselves how to manage those confrontations.
So-called 鈥渞ed flag鈥� laws create what are officially known as Emergency Risk Protection Orders, or ERPOs. Colorado鈥檚 law came with controversy when some county sheriffs and said they would not enforce the protection order even when a judge agreed to one.
Many states passed ERPO laws after the 2018 in Parkland, Florida. Courts in Connecticut, Indiana and Florida have upheld the laws as constitutional.
found Indiana鈥檚 ERPO law was associated with a 7.5% reduction in firearm suicides over 10 years. Connecticut鈥檚 law was also associated with a reduction in suicide.
In Colorado鈥檚 Pitkin County, Sheriff Joe DiSalvo said he agrees with the premise of the law, but that he鈥檚 not clear on the specifics of how best to put it to use.
鈥淲ith gun violence as rampant as it is today, I think we should do as much as we can to take guns out of the hands of people who are mentaly ill,鈥� DiSalvo said. 鈥淢ind you, I don鈥檛 know how I am going to deal with this yet. I am still wrestling with it myself.鈥�
As the Colorado law is written, once a judge approves a petition from family members or law enforcement to remove someone鈥檚 firearms, that person is supposed to relinquish the weapons on their own. But what happens, DiSalvo wonders, when someone refuses to do so.
鈥淣ow we go to his house and he is not answering the door. Are you we going to make this a standoff? Are we going to bang down the door? There are a lot of operational things that are still not clear,鈥� he said.
After guns are confiscated, individuals may argue their case in front of a judge to get their weapons back. The Colorado General Assembly appropriated $119,000 to the state鈥檚 judicial department to implement ERPOs, but it didn鈥檛 earmark anything to help train law enforcement to carry out the orders.
Pitkin County, Colorado, Sheriff Joe DiSalvo said his team will develop new policies for implementing ERPOs as needed.
Alycin Bektesh / KUNC
Adelyn Allchin is the Senior Director of Public Health and Policy for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which promotes gun regulations and advocates for ERPO laws nationwide. She says that it鈥檚 not uncommon for states to skimp on providing resources for the agencies that will actually be pursuing the protective order enforcement.
鈥淲e absolutely need funding for training for law enforcement for Extreme Risk Protection Order policy implementation,鈥� Allchin said.
Allchin has helped police and sheriff鈥檚 departments across the country decipher the specifics of new ERPO laws, which vary from state to state.
鈥淭hey have a lot of questions about processes and who鈥檚 responsible for what,鈥� Allchin said. 鈥淎 lot of very logistical questions.鈥�
The most successful implementation of ERPO laws, Allchin says, requires collaboration. She points to the work done in Seattle . Law enforcement, prosecutors and advocates all came to the table to work out the best way to serve gun seizure warrants in their community. Seattle Police Sergeant Eric Pisconski was part of that team. The group tackled everything, down to creating the actual protection order form.
鈥淭he burden is on law enforcement and the courts to develop what the paperwork and protocols are going to look like,鈥� Pisconski said. 鈥淪o we all had to donate our time, essentially, to develop that, because there was no money earmarked for that, there was no speciality commission set up to develop that.鈥�
As states like Colorado join the growing number of locations across the country that have ERPO laws, they look to law enforcement officers with experience like Pisconski鈥檚 for advice.
As in any confrontation law enforcement must manage, there is no specific playbook for actually taking possession of firearms, he said. But he recommends agencies create a clear internal policy that is applied fairly and a robust 鈥渢hreat matrix鈥� to guide decision-making.
鈥淥ne of the things that is important is developing a vetting process for those individuals, so that it can essentially be a defendable process and not viewed as an overreach and not viewed as arbitrary and capricious,鈥� Pisconski said.
In the first three weeks of the new law, no ERPO requests had come across Colorado Sheriff Joe DiSalvo鈥檚 desk. He said his team will begin implementing new procedures on an as-needed basis.
is a reporter based in Aspen, Colorado.
is a public media reporting project on the role of guns in American life.
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