Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) on Tuesday renewed her push for legislation expanding red flag laws to address gun violence.
At a press conference on Capitol Hill, McBath touted her Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order (FERPO) Act as a measure that will “save lives.” McBath’s son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012.
The Georgia Democrat’s legislation establishes procedures for a family member or law enforcement officer to petition a federal court for an extreme risk protection order, known as a “red flag” order, regarding an individual they believe poses a risk to themselves or others.
Under the FERPO Act, federal firearms restrictions would apply to those subject to these orders. The legislation would also direct the Justice Department to establish a grant program to help local and state governments, as well as tribal authorities, implement red flag laws.
More than 20 states, along with Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have red flag laws in place, according to the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention at the University of Michigan.
The FERPO Act initially passed the House in 2022 via a 224-202 vote. Five Republicans voted for the measure at the time, but just one of those lawmakers is still in office: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.).
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which former President Biden signed into law in 2022, also provided states with $750 million in funding over five years to support crisis intervention services, including red flag laws.
McBath, the ranking member on a House Judiciary subcommittee on crime, said Tuesday that red flag laws “empower loved ones” and “give law enforcement the tools to intervene before the tragedies” occur.
She also said she will re-up a discharge petition to bring her proposal to the House floor. McBath noted that while “hundreds” of members have already signed her petition, she will reach out to newer representatives and seek their support.
A poll conducted last year by the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University found that 77 percent of Americans support allowing family members to ask a court for a temporary red flag order against an individual.
Republican opponents of such measures on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, argue that they infringe on the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
“The American people deserve better,” McBath remarked. “They’ve been crying out for gun safety, they’ve been crying out for public safety.”
The Georgia Democrat was joined by Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), the chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, and Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).
Thompson chairs the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force in the lower chamber, while Dingell co-chairs the Bipartisan Working Group to End Domestic Violence.
All three lawmakers threw their support behind McBath’s legislation and highlighted the need to protect victims of domestic violence. The FBI reported more than 11,000 domestic violence murder victims from 2020 through 2024, with 13.7 percent of domestic violent crime incidents involving a firearm during that time period.
“When someone is convicted of domestic violence, they should not have access to a firearm,” Dingell said.