Six States Ban Red Flag Confiscation — And Punish Officials Who Try

Six states have banned red flag laws outright, and some are throwing officials into legal jeopardy if they dare enforce them anyway. That's the buried lead in a new hand-wringing newsletter from The Trace, the anti-gun advocacy outfit disguised as a news organization.

Extreme Risk Protection Orders — ERPOs, or "red flag" laws — let courts strip law-abiding Americans of their firearms based on accusations alone, before any crime is committed and often before the gun owner can mount a defense. That's not due process. That's a witch hunt with a badge.

The Trace is alarmed that momentum is shifting. Good. It should be.

These laws have always been a Trojan horse. Supporters sold them as narrow, targeted tools for crisis intervention. In practice, they hand jealous ex-partners, disgruntled neighbors, and overzealous officials a legal weapon to disarm innocent people. No conviction required. No criminal charge required. Just an accusation.

The constitutional problems are obvious to anyone who has actually read the Fourth and Second Amendments. You don't get to seize someone's property — especially a fundamental constitutional right — without meaningful due process. Period.

The six states that banned ERPOs aren't operating in a legal vacuum. They're responding to constituents who understand that "red flag" is just a prettier name for prior restraint against gun owners.

The Trace predictably frames state-level ERPO bans as dangerous and dismisses critics as spreading "false claims" about misuse. But documented cases of ERPO abuse aren't hard to find — they just don't fit the preferred narrative of the gun-control press corps.

Here's what The Trace won't tell you: not a single ERPO has ever stopped a determined violent criminal. These orders work only on people who follow the law — which is to say, the exact people who were never a threat in the first place.

Gun owners in states that still have red flag laws on the books need to know their rights and get involved in state legislative races. The six states that banned ERPOs didn't get there by accident — they got there because armed citizens showed up and demanded it.

Find out where your state legislators stand. Vote accordingly. Your rights depend on it.