Michigan’s Extreme Risk Protection Order, or ERPO, law, which allows a person’s firearms to be temporarily removed from their possession in the case of a mental health crisis, was a point of focus for the 10th Annual Suicide Prevention Education Summit, hosted last week by Kevin’s Song, a Michigan charity aiming to grow awareness on the causes of suicide, as well as the Community Mental Health Association of Michigan.
For April Zeoli, an associate professor of public health and a director at the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention at the University of Michigan, the red flag law in Michigan is crucial for suicide prevention.
“What we know in research is that there are people who would be alive today if they hadn’t had access to a firearm when they were acutely suicidal,” Zeoli said in an opening keynote speech. “We also know that there are people who didn’t die because they didn’t have access to a firearm when they were acutely suicide, and extreme risk protection orders can help limit access to firearms.”
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