Six States Ban Red Flag Enforcement — The Trace Is Furious

The Trace — Michael Bloomberg's gun-control propaganda outlet — is clutching its pearls because six states have banned enforcement of red flag laws and are threatening to punish any official who tries to use them anyway.

Good. That's exactly how it should work.

Let's be clear about what The Trace calls "Extreme Risk Protection Orders." They are government mechanisms to strip law-abiding Americans of their firearms and their constitutional rights based on an accusation — before any crime is committed, before any conviction, and often before the gun owner even knows a hearing took place. No jury. No criminal charge. Just a judge, a petitioner, and your guns gone.

The Trace is furious that gun-rights advocates call this "rampant misuse" and "confiscation without due process." Here's a news flash for the Bloomberg newsroom: it IS confiscation without due process. That's not a framing choice — that's the literal mechanics of the law.

Six states have passed legislation recognizing that ERPOs are unconstitutional on their face. Some have gone further, prescribing real penalties for officials who attempt to enforce them. That's called accountability, and it terrifies the disarmament crowd.

The Trace's angle is predictable: frame state-level resistance as dangerous extremism, bury every documented case of ERPO abuse, and dust off the talking point that Trump and the NRA once flirted with supporting these laws. Yes, that happened. It was wrong then, and the gun-rights community corrected course. That's not hypocrisy — that's learning.

What The Trace will never tell you: ERPOs have targeted veterans, domestic violence victims trying to defend themselves, and citizens with zero criminal history — all on the strength of a vindictive ex-partner's phone call. Due process is not a loophole. It is the entire point.

The outlet's real goal is to pressure state legislators considering similar bans and to build a narrative that resistance to red flag laws is fringe and dangerous. Don't let them gaslight your state reps.

**What you need to do right now:** Contact your state legislators and demand they follow the lead of the six states that banned ERPO enforcement. If your state already has an ERPO law on the books, push for repeal. Find out who funds your state's gun-control lobbying operations and make sure your representatives know you're watching. The Trace is mapping the battlefield — gun owners need to be doing the same.