Michigan's Own Data Exposes Red Flag Gun Grabs at Scale

Michigan just handed gun owners a rare look behind the curtain — and what's inside is exactly as bad as you feared.

The state's judicial branch released an official report this month detailing the real-world use of Michigan's Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law — the formal name for what is, without apology, a gun confiscation scheme. The NRA-ILA obtained and analyzed the document, and the numbers confirm what Second Amendment advocates warned from day one.

Under Michigan's red flag law, any family member, household member, or law enforcement officer can petition a court to strip a person of their firearms — **before that person ever sets foot in a courtroom to defend themselves.** A judge issues an "ex parte" emergency order based solely on the petitioner's claims. Your guns are gone. You find out after the fact.

That is not a due process gray area. That is due process abolished.

The judicial report shows these orders are being granted at scale across the state. Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the ERPO statute into law in 2023 as part of a sweeping anti-gun package — the same package that forced through universal background checks and safe storage mandates. The red flag law was always the crown jewel of that agenda.

Here is what the gun-control lobby will not tell you about how these laws work in practice: the burden of proof to **seize** your firearms is deliberately low. The burden to **get them back** is crushing. Respondents must hire attorneys, appear at follow-up hearings, and prove a negative — that they are *not* dangerous — to reclaim property the government had no right to take in the first place.

**You are guilty until proven innocent. And the meter is running the whole time.**

Bloomberg-funded groups like Everytown spent millions pushing this exact template into Michigan law. They call it "life-saving policy." What it is: a roadmap for stripping law-abiding citizens of constitutional rights on an accusation alone.

No criminal charge. No conviction. No Second Amendment.

Michigan gun owners now have documented proof — from their own government's records — of how frequently and aggressively these orders are being used. That data is a weapon. Use it.

**What you can do right now:** Share the NRA-ILA report at nraila.org with every Michigan gun owner you know. Contact your state legislators and demand repeal or hard due-process reforms. If you are outside Michigan, check your own state's ERPO laws — 21 states have them, and this playbook is coming for all of us.

Michigan was the test case. Your state could be next. Watch this space.