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One relatively unknown tool for stopping gun violence may soon get a lot more attention.
An Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) empowers family members and police to take guns away from a person who may pose a danger to themselves or others. The person's access to firearms is blocked until they can demonstrate that the risk is over. Essentially, ERPOs are a temporary restraining order for guns.
As of now, only Washington, California, Connecticut and most recently Oregon have ERPO laws (while Indiana and Texas have modified risk warrant statutes). Over the past year, however, spurred by a string of mass shootings beginning with the Pulse Nightclub attack that killed 49 in June 2016, legislatures in 19 states and Washington, D.C., have taken up 32 separate ERPO bills for consideration, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control.
Everytown's deputy legal director, William Rosen, told ABC News that list will grow. "We expect to see at least as much interest in 2018," he said.
"There is a growing consensus," added Lauren Alfred of the gun violence prevention group Sandy Hook Promise, "that this is the first step we should be taking when we are talking about people who are at risk of hurting themselves or others."
Continue Reading: The tool that could help stop mass shootings