A sweeping study released this week found that public knowledge of Extreme Risk Protection Order laws, and public attitudes toward their implementation, is crucial to how effective and expansive they are. Sometimes referred to as “red flag” laws, ERPOs work to prevent gun tragedies by allowing law enforcement, family members, or friends to petition courts for a civil order to temporarily separate people in crisis from access to firearms.
Forms of the law have been enacted in 21 states and Washington, D.C., many of them in reaction to the Parkland mass shooting in 2018.
Commissioned by the Joyce Foundation, the study was undertaken by the Ad Council Research Institute and published in conjunction with the institute’s public messaging campaign, begun in August 2018, on safe storage. Among its findings is that more effective communication about how these laws work can help keep communities safe from gun violence. (The Joyce Foundation provides funding to The Trace.)
A forthcoming toolkit related to the study will provide guidance on public awareness, messaging, and implementation, including how to identify a trusted source and how to best frame educational messaging around the laws. “This toolkit and research set up organizations with knowing what we know, bypassing some of the challenges, and focusing on opportunities where there is common ground,” said Derrick Feldmann, the lead researcher on the study and managing director of the Ad Council Research Institute.
One of the...
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