States Make ERPO Enforcement a Felony — and More Are Coming

South Carolina legislators drew a hard line: enforce a red flag gun confiscation order in their state and you're a felon.

The Ban Against Red Flag Gun Confiscation Act treats any enforcement of an Extreme Risk Protection Order — including by law enforcement — as criminal conduct. Similar legislation is moving in Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Wyoming, and Texas. State legislators are finally putting teeth behind Second Amendment sanctuary policies.

Red flag laws, also called ERPOs, allow courts to strip Americans of their firearms based on unilateral accusations — before any crime is committed, before any criminal conviction, and in many cases before the gun owner faces their accuser. That's not due process. That's a government ambush on your front porch.

These laws require no criminal charge whatsoever. A jealous ex, a disgruntled neighbor, or a politically motivated relative can trigger a predawn armed raid on your home. Courts rubber-stamp the orders ex parte — without you present — and law enforcement arrives to take your guns. The burden then falls on you to prove your innocence to get them back.

Since the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 handed states federal cash to build out ERPO frameworks, the gun confiscation infrastructure expanded aggressively. Anti-gun politicians banked on states keeping these laws forever. They miscalculated.

Gun rights advocates have spent years documenting ERPO abuses — wrongful confiscations, destroyed property, legal bills that bankrupt families, and in at least one case, a fatal encounter when police showed up to seize a man's firearms without warning. The law didn't save him. It got him killed.

Now state legislators are weaponizing the one thing bureaucrats actually fear: personal criminal liability. When the cop, the clerk, or the judge enforcing a red flag order faces felony charges themselves, the calculus changes fast.

Bloomberg-funded outlet The Trace is already crying that these bills could prevent criminal violence from being stopped. That's the predictable smear. ERPOs have a dismal evidence base and a rock-solid record of trampling constitutional rights.

The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee due process. The Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. Red flag laws shred both. States that criminalize ERPO enforcement aren't radical — they're constitutional.

If you live in Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Wyoming, or Texas, contact your state rep today and demand they pass their ERPO ban with full criminal penalties. Your rights don't take a day off, and neither should your voice.