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A look inside the extreme risk protection orders petitions filed during 1st year of Minnesota's red flag law

An inside look of Minnesota's first year with a red flag law
An inside look of Minnesota's first year with a red flag law 07:47

MINNEAPOLIS — One gun owner heard voices telling her to kill the president. Another mused about shooting up a school. But neither of those crimes happened, thanks in part to Minnesota's new red flag law. 

A WCCO Investigation found that 140 extreme risk protection orders were filed last year. That's when authorities temporarily take away someone's guns.

A mental health crisis can touch any family at any time. Just ask DFL Rep. Ethan Cha.

"It's a family member, so it's emotional because you're thinking worst-case scenario, right," Cha said.

A relative wasn't acting like themselves and Cha stepped in to help. He says he knew when the situation escalated: guns needed to be removed from the home.

"Being in a community where we've seen a lot of gun violence, I happen to have the foresight to understand the possible scenarios that could happen if there was firearms in the house. So that was utmost priority," Cha said.

While his family navigated the situation on their own, he hopes others utilize Minnesota's new red flag law, which he voted for. It allows family members, law enforcement and a county or city attorney to ask a court to temporarily take a person's guns away or prohibit someone from buying one.

"I think this is a valuable piece of legislation that will save lives," Cha said.

WCCO read through all 140 petitions filed in year one. Most were filed by law enforcement for White men. Women accounted for 7%. All public petitions involved a fear of self-harm or harm to others. Forty-four percent lasted the maximum of one year. Another 30% lasted the minimum of two weeks. Few were dismissed.

Bloomington police became the first law enforcement agency to file in Hennepin County. The department sought a total of three in 2024.

"There's a lot of people that our officers deal with on a day-to-day basis that are in a mental health crisis. It is extreme ones that they have access to weapons," Sgt. Brant Richardson said.

Richardson says one person was hearing voices, another thought the government was after them. A man threatened to kill his neighbors in the one he filed. In each case, guns were in the home. 

"We're not out there, you know, trying to take people's weapons from them. This is another tool that we have that we can use to hopefully take those firearms away for the time being," Richardson said.

Researchers like Dr. Jillian Peterson are paying close attention to the data. Peterson is the executive director of the Violence Prevention Project Research Center. 

"These cases were just a lot more kind of emotional and hard to read than I anticipated," Peterson said. "There have been threats of violence to a school. There's been individuals maybe experiencing psychosis for the first time and thinking people are after them and living in a busy apartment complex and firing guns, which can be really dangerous There's women whose ex-partner is actively trying to murder them, and they're terrified."

One petition was granted for a man walking down the street with a gun while having hallucinations. Police found bullet holes in a wall in his home and recovered 47 guns and 600 lbs of ammo. Another was approved for a mentally ill man who previously expressed interest in carrying out a school shooting and made threats against himself and family members. 

"There's so many warning signs, especially if we look at school shooters. Ninty-one percent of the time they tell somebody that they're planning on doing it. And so people know this, but it's not a crime to say you're thinking about doing something. And so law enforcement's hands are tied in a lot of these cases. So I think having a resource to get firearms away from that person just in that moment of crisis. And we know you should not have immediate access to firearms in that moment," Peterson said. "One-hundred percent I think it has the ability to save lives."

Peterson believes a critical question is what happens after the guns are taken away. Are people in crisis offered services, and if so, how do you track progress?

"Unless you're getting them access to the treatment that they need, whatever it is to get you through that crisis. We need to make sure that's also happening at the same time of removal," Peterson said.

Bloomington police say it has social workers who connect with any person with a red flag order.

"And they start working on, how can we help this person? What can we do to make this situation better?" Richardson said.

Cha says conversations are happening with lawmakers about how to create more awareness around the law and how to best offer support after guns are removed. 

"How do we follow up on these cases that have been filed? Who does it, who's responsible and how do we provide support for those that need it the most? And that is something that I think we all need to work on and identify," Cha said.

Police say if you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911. 

For more information on Extreme Risk Protection Orders and who can file one, click here.


If you or someone you know is in emotional distress, get help from the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Trained crisis counselors are available 24 hours a day to talk about anything.

In addition, help is available from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. Call the NAMI Helpline at 800-950-6264 or text "HelpLine" to 62640. There are more than 600 local NAMI organizations and affiliates across the country, many of which offer free support and education programs.

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