LANSING, Mich. (March 6, 2025) — After persistent calls to close dangerous loopholes in state gun laws, Michigan Democratic lawmakers worked to pass a slate of widely embraced gun safety measures in 2023. Among them was legislation championed by Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) which allows a court to issue an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) to temporarily intervene and suspend a person’s access to firearms if they show clear warning signs of violence and pose an immediate threat to themselves or others.
“When the governor signed my legislation establishing a Red Flag law in back in 2023, we were surrounded by Michiganders from all walks of life, including survivors, family members, and law enforcement,, who are unified in their desire not to see anyone else suffer senseless gun violence,” said Sen. McMorrow. “They came together in support of a policy designed to save lives, because they knew every person deserves to feel safe whether at school, grocery shopping, or at home.”
In the first year since the law took effect on February 13, 2024, Michigan judges granted 287 of the 391 requests for temporary removal of firearms. As a result, firearms were removed from the home of a 10-year-old child threatening to shoot his classmates, a husband threatening to kill his wife in the midst of a separation, and a law enforcement officer facing a mental health crisis, among other individuals who posed an immediate safety risk.
“Extreme risk protection orders save lives. They buy loved ones time to intervene and prevent an unthinkable tragedy when someone is faced with a moment of crisis,” Sen. McMorrow said. “We’ve seen this law be successful hundreds of times during this past year, including in my community. Just recently, Royal Oak’s Police Chief shared how this law provided his department with the ability de-escalate a dangerous situation involving a man experiencing a CTE crisis, remove his firearms, and connect him to mental health treatment. His life matters and so do all the lives this law saves.”
Michigan House Republicans, however, introduced a package to repeal these provisions, despite clear evidence that the law is working exactly as intended and saving lives.
In response to this reckless decision, Sen. McMorrow added, “A WDIV/Detroit News poll from 2023 when the bills were passed showed near 75% of Michiganders support these extreme risk protection orders, including almost 60% of gun-owning Republican voters. It’s unconscionable that House Republicans would callously reject the will of the people and the evidence right before their eyes to do the bidding of the gun lobby.”