Sponsors (114)
Official title: To authorize the issuance of extreme risk protection orders.
Introduced February 17, 2026 by Lucy Mcbath · Last progress February 17, 2026
The bill increases nationwide ability to identify and temporarily disarm people courts deem high-risk—potentially reducing suicides and violence—while raising important trade-offs around privacy, due process (especially ex parte and timing issues), disparate impacts, and substantial implementation costs for governments.
People judged by courts to pose a significant risk will be temporarily barred from possessing or buying firearms, reducing immediate risk of firearm suicide and violence for respondents, their families, and communities.
Federal recognition, standardized reporting, and NICS integration make ERPOs and qualifying orders enforceable across states and tribes, improving cross-jurisdictional identification of people subject to active orders and helping law enforcement prevent access to firearms by high-risk individuals.
Federal grants and required training for judges, court staff, law enforcement, and others build capacity (personnel, training, technical assistance) and public awareness to identify at-risk people and connect them to services.
Respondents can have firearms removed or be barred from possession based on ex parte orders or before a full hearing, risking erroneous or prolonged deprivation of firearm rights for people who may not pose a continuing danger.
Expanded national databases and mandatory demographic/reporting requirements increase the amount and sharing of sensitive personal data, raising privacy, misuse, and false-positive risks that can harm individuals' rights and reputations.
Implementation, reporting, database maintenance, NICS updates, and cross-jurisdiction enforcement will impose administrative and fiscal costs on federal, state, tribal, and local governments and may divert limited funds from other public-safety or social programs.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal ERPO system that bars persons judged a significant risk from firearms, adds ERPOs as a federal disqualifier, funds implementation grants, and requires interstate enforcement and record-sharing.
Creates a federal framework allowing courts to issue Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) that temporarily prohibit people judged to be a significant risk from purchasing, possessing, or accessing firearms and ammunition. The bill adds ERPOs as a federal firearms disqualification, requires courts and law enforcement to remove and store firearms, establishes interstate recognition and database reporting, and sets penalties for violations. Establishes a Department of Justice grant program to help States, Tribes, localities, courts, and other eligible entities implement ERPO laws and related training, requires limited recordkeeping and database access for ERPOs, and makes most provisions effective 180 days after enactment.