Extreme Risk Protection Orders and Firearm and Nonfirearm Suicides in the US.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Firearm suicides constitute a crisis in the US, accounting for more than half (55.4%) of all suicide deaths in 2023. Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs; ie, red flag laws) authorize temporary firearm removal from individuals deemed at high risk of harming themselves or others. While ERPOs are designed to reduce firearm-related suicides, whether they result in a net reduction in suicide deaths or shift firearm suicides to suicides by other methods remains an important but unresolved issue in determining their effectiveness.

Objective

To determine the association of ERPOs with firearm suicides and nonfirearm suicides in states with sufficient postpolicy data and no confounding firearm legislation that may bias findings on ERPO outcomes.

Design, setting, and pa

SUBMITTER: Brown TT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12859719 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature