Former National Rifle Association spokesperson and pro-gun advocate Dana Loesch went on Fox News to fearmonger that Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) laws are an “inversion of due process rights” hours before a U.S. House committee advanced a bill to provide funding for states who enact such laws. In fact ERPO laws, which share a similar design with laws that remove guns from individuals under domestic violence restraining orders, include due process protections and have been upheld by courts as constitutional. ERPO laws are commonly also referred to as “red flag” laws, though the term has been criticized by the gun safety group that designed the policy as stigmatizing to people with mental health disabilities.
On September 10, the House Judiciary Committee voted to send three gun safety bills to the House floor for a full vote, including the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, which would provide municipalities grants to create a “avenue to prevent a person in crisis from harming themselves or others by temporarily removing guns and prohibiting the purchase of firearms.” In the Senate, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have been advocating for a separate ERPO law -- where federal courts would administer the gun removal process -- since 2018, and saw increased support for their measure in early August after multiple mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.
The other bills would regulate the sale of high capacity magazines and prevent those convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime from buying a gun.
While the committee was marking up the bills, Loesch went on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight to call ERPO laws an “inversion of our due process” and “an absolute removal of a cornerstone of our republic.” She lambasted Republican lawmakers who support this gun safety measure and falsely claimed that “any Tom, Dick, and Harry can report you and say that they think you are dangerous”: