MINNEAPOLIS — A new law is in effect aimed at keeping guns away from people who are a danger to themselves or others. Minnesota now joins 20 other states, plus Washington D.C., with so-called “red flag” laws.
If a Minnesotan poses a significant threat, a judge can now temporarily stop them from having a gun. These legal orders are called extreme risk protection orders.
MORE: Minnesota law enforcement readies to enforce new red flag law in 2024
On Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz said that if the new law “saves one life, then that’s good enough.”
Walz and gun safety advocates on Tuesday celebrated the new policy, which allows family members, chief law enforcement officers, or county and city attorneys to petition a judge to temporarily suspend someone’s access to firearms if determined to be a danger to themselves or others.
If granted, it’s known as an extreme risk protection order. Those can last as little as two weeks or as long as a year. The Department of Public Safety’s website says extreme risk protection orders “are a proven way to intervene before an incident of gun violence — such as a firearm suicide or mass shooting — occurs and takes more lives.”
There are two kinds of orders a judge can grant: A long-term order lasts up to a year and only comes after a hearing where the person in question can dispute that they’re a risk. An emergency order goes into effect immediately, without a hearing, and lasts for two weeks.
Emergency orders have their critics.
“None of us want anybody who should not be in possession of a firearm to possess one,” Vick said. “But we want to make sure that it is done with due process . . . and there’s the tension. There’s going to be the tension between public safety and individual rights, and that’s where the argument comes in.”
Gun safety advocates in Minnesota had pushed for these red flag laws in Minnesota for a long time, hoping they’ll make our communities safer.
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