In an attempt to avert due process and confiscate guns from citizens deemed a threat, the Biden administration recently announced a new resource center positioned to do just that.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice launched the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, which aims to provide law enforcement, prosecutors, attorneys, judges, and more with training and technical assistance to “keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a threat to themselves or others.”
“The launch of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center will provide our partners across the country with valuable resources to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The establishment of the Center is the latest example of the Justice Department’s work to use every tool provided by the landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to protect communities from gun violence.”
In 2022, Democrats, along with some Republicans, joined together to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which according to the act’s summary “makes various changes to federal firearms laws, including to expand background check requirements, broaden the scope of existing restrictions, and establish new criminal offenses.”
However, the law has been criticized for incentivizing states to impose “red flag” laws. The purpose of such laws is to deny otherwise law-abiding citizens their right to purchase firearms by circumventing the Constitution’s due process protections.
Chris McNutt, president of Texas Gun Rights, told Texas Scorecard that Biden is attempting to disarm law-abiding citizens and Texas needs to lead the way in pushing back against these policies.
“The Biden administration is hell-bent on shredding our rights protected by the Second Amendment. Between his calls for a semi auto ban packaged as an ‘assault weapons ban,’ to directing the ATF to ban private firearms sales, and now with his creation of a red flag resource center, Biden is doing everything in his power to disarm law-abiding Americans and empower criminals. That’s why Texas Gun Rights is making it a legislative priority to ban red flag gun confiscation laws, and pass a Second Amendment Preservation Act in Texas,” said McNutt. “Texas needs to lead the way for the rest of the nation by pushing back against these unconstitutional gun grabs.”
Texas State Director for Gun Owners of America Wes Virdell also told Texas Scorecard that states must not comply with the Biden administration’s attempts to “undermine the Second Amendment.”
“The implementation of Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Centers by the Biden administration is yet another example of a rogue government that is trampling on the inalienable rights of American citizens. The executive branch of the federal government is trying every angle to remove the rights of American citizens to own firearms. This will not be the last attempt, and it is up to the states to hold the federal government accountable,” said Virdell.
“Liberty is being eroded away. Emotions and intentions are the modus operandi for many current members of the federal government and logic is unfamiliar to them. If we do not reverse course and return to the original intent of the Constitution, this country is destined for ruin,” he added.
McNutt said two measures introduced during Texas’ 88th Legislative Session could have helped to ban “red flag” laws in Texas and would have prohibited the enforcement of any Extreme Risk Protection Order.
House Bill 1894 by Republican State Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park would have prohibited the “recognition and enforcement of extreme risk protective orders; creating a criminal offense.” However, the measure failed to pass through the Community Safety Committee.
Additionally, Republican State Rep. Tony Tinderholt of Arlington filed House Bill 5153, which McNutt said would have “put enforceable teeth into the Second Amendment sanctuary law passed by the legislature in 2021.” The measure would have imposed fines of $50,000 on federal agents and anyone who would enforce Biden’s gun control plans in Texas. HB 5153 was referred to the House State Affairs Committee but never received a vote.
Texas’ 89th Legislative Session will begin on January 14, 2025.
