RESOURCE: Extreme Risk Protection Orders, what it does and who it might be for
Our series on gun violence prevention made possible by the underwriting support of Protect Minnesota.
Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County Attorney, has delivered workshops about the use of ERPOs as protective tools
The Hennepin County attorney’s office has created a toolkit to help people understand the value of Extreme Risk Protection Orders, and the warning signs that might require it.
Some of the details from the Hennepin County online toolkit
What is an ERPO?
An Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) is a civil court order that temporarily says the respondent (the person against whom the legal action is taken) cannot have or buy firearms. ERPOs are a tool to help prevent firearm violence, for example, suicides, community violence, domestic violence, and mass shootings. They temporarily limit someone’s access to firearms when the person is at risk of harming themselves or others. An ERPO may be short term (14 days) or long term (up to a year).
Who can request an ERPO?
- Law Enforcement
- City or County Attorney Offices
- People who are or have been married
- Parents or children of the respondent
- People who are currently living with the respondent
- People involved in a significant romantic or sexual relationship with the respondent
- Legal guardian of the respondent
What can an ERPO do?
- ERPOs prohibit the respondent temporarily from possessing or purchasing firearms.
- Creates a formal process for the respondent to surrender their firearms either by voluntary compliance or through a search warrant.
What can’t an ERPO do?
- An ERPO does not prohibit the respondent from contacting the petitioner or joint children.
- An ERPO cannot order the respondent to seek mental health help or treatment.
If you would like assistance in filing an ERPO, please reach out to DASC at 612-348-5073
Warning signs of suicide
- Giving away personal possessions
- Talking as if saying goodbye or going away forever
- Taking steps to tie up loose ends, like organizing personal papers or paying off debts
- Making or changing a will
- Collecting and saving pills or buying a weapon
- Saying things like “Nothing matters anymore,” “You’ll be better off without me”
- Withdrawing from friends, family, and normal activities
- Increasing drug or alcohol use
Source: NAMI: Risk of Suicide
Warning signs of potential lethal domestic violence
- Access to a firearm, or is there a firearm in the home
- Used or threatened to use a weapon against the victim
- Attempts to strangle or choke the victim
- Threatened to or tried to kill the victim
- Physical violence increased in frequency or severity over the past year
- Forced the victim to have sex
- Attempts to control most or all of victim’s daily activities
- Constantly or violently jealous
- Threatened or tried to commit suicide
- Does the victim believe that the alleged perpetrator will re-assault or attempt to kill the victim?
- Pending or prior Orders for Protection, criminal or civil cases
Source: The Danger Assessment
Warning signs of a potential homicide
- Expresses thoughts of harming others
- Demonstrates a significant increase in aggressive behavior
- Indications of severe paranoia or persecutory delusions
- History of violence o Changes in expected behavior
- Family members or other sources expressing concern about potential for violence
Source: Texas LPC Supervision and Counseling
Warning signs of potential community violence
- Suddenly withdrawing from friends, family, and activities (including online or via social media)
- Bullying, especially if targeted towards differences in race, religion, gender or sexual orientation
- Excessive irritability, lack of patience, or becoming angry quickly
- Experiencing chronic loneliness or social isolation
- Expressing persistent thoughts of harming themselves or someone else
- Making direct threats toward a place, another person, or themselves
- Recruiting accomplices or audiences for an attack
- Directly expressing a threat as a plan
- Cruelty to animals
Source: Sandy Hook Promise: Know the Signs of Gun Violence
How Has ERPO Served Public Safety So Far
According to a Star Tribune article (October 5, 2025), in the first year of the “red flag” law, some of the ways it was successfully employed:
- In Bloomington, police seized a loaded assault rifle and four handguns from the sixth-floor hotel room of a Seattle man who set up a “shooting platform” overlooking a busy street next to the Mall of America.
- In Alexandria, police took a handgun from a mentally ill resident after he repeatedly threatened the property manager, telling her had had “a bullet for her.” He indicated a history of being bullied and said, “This is how school shooters are made.”
- In Anoke, police took four firearms, including a semiautomatic rifle, from a 36-year-old man who threatened to kill two former coworkers at a Home Depot after he was fired. He said he was prepared to shoot it out with police, telling his wife he was “preparing for war.”
On the other hand, the story continued, no one has claimed there were warning signs in either the political assassination of Melissa Hortman and her husband in Brooklyn Park, or the killing of two children and the wounding of 21 others at the Annunciation church in Minneapolis.
The story pointed out in graphics that Hennepin (Minneapolis) and Ramsey County (Saint Paul) filed one-third of the cases, but Blue Earth County (Mankato) followed with 25.
Nearly all of the red flag cases involved gun possession by white men, with a majority aged 31 to 40.
Related Stories
To support our public safety coverage:
For 2025 coverage, Minnesota Women’s Press earned a community leadership award, three photography awards, and four editorial awards, including for coverage of social issues and for our Spring 2025 “Know Your Rights” special section supported by Unidos MN. Our publisher was named Journalist of the Year by Violence Free Minnesota for gender-based violence coverage.
