More than 15K "red flag" gun seizures since 2020, but AP claims the law is "barely used"

How often should “red flag” laws be used? For most of the readers of Bearing Arms, the answer is “zero”, but it might surprise you to learn that even supporters of Extreme Risk Protection Orders can’t say just how frequently they should be initiated… though several told the Associated Press that they’re not being used enough.

According to an AP analysis, however, “red flag” laws have been deployed more than 15,000 times in 19 states and the District of Columbia since 2020; a rate that translates to about 1 ERPO for every 10,000 people.

That seems like a lot to me, especially since these measures are typically billed as a tool to be deployed in only the most dire of circumstances when a gun owner has been deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. But to the “experts” the AP spoke to, the number of gun seizures should be much higher.