LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – A recent poll released by the Detroit Regional Chamber found that many Michigan voters are calling on the newly voted Democrat held state Legislature to address new gun control laws. 

DRC surveyed 600 registered voters from across the state between Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, asking participants to rank from seven possible legislative priorities for the new year.  The priority that received the most support was red flag laws and requiring background checks for gun purchases.  

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Red flag laws have been up for discussion since before 2000, and come by many names including extreme risk protection orders, extreme risk firearm protection orders, risk protection orders, gun violence restraining orders, and risk warrants to name a few. These can differ in degree and long of time, but generally authorize police or family members to temporarily remove firearms from a person deemed to be a danger to themselves or others according to the World Population Review (WPR). 

Within the poll, 90% of Michiganders supported requiring background checks for gun purchases, and 74% favored adding red flag laws that would allow a court to remove guns from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others. 

“Michigan voters strongly approve of how this November’s election was conducted and how they were able to vote with only a small pocket of GOP voters having a problem,” President of The Glengariff Group, Inc. Richard Czuba said in a statement, “When presented with a potential legislative agenda, voters gravitate towards areas like gun control where there is broad bipartisan agreement. Background checks and red flag laws are two pieces of low-hanging fruit that this legislature can enact quickly and unify voters.”

There are currently 20 states with some form of a Red Flag law on the books, but before the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, only five states had red flag laws according to the WPR.  Different states have varying degrees of strictness in their red flag laws, ranging from Maine’s “yellow-flag laws” which will temporarily remove firearms from people deemed to pose a threat to themselves and others, to Oklahoma which in 2020 passed a law that specifically “prohibits the state or any city, county, or political subdivision from enacting red flag laws.

Red flag laws have many names, among which extreme risk protection order (ERPOs) laws is one.  States can differ on who initiates these ERPOs, whether it be from law enforcement, or from family.  Like in the case of the Parkland shooting, these types of laws generally follow a mass shooting.  As early as 1999, Connecticut passed a version of the red flag law, followed by Indiana in 2005, then California, Washington, and Oregon all before 2018.  

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Should a bill consisting of one or both of the stricter gun control laws pass the Legislature and Senate, Governor Gretchen Whitmer would likely sign off as she has publicly voiced her support of both background checks and red flag laws as recently as the gubernatorial debates.