'Red flag' orders soar after Buffalo mass shooting; Suffolk leads state
Bullet holes in a window at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo after a mass shooting there in May 2022.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke
ALBANY — The use of the “red flag” law to allow New York judges to confiscate weapons from people deemed dangerous has soared over the last 13 months — with Suffolk County by far the most active jurisdiction across the state, new data shows.
The wave corresponds to mid-May 2022, when Gov. Kathy Hochul — responding just days after the Buffalo supermarket massacre — signed an executive order and the red flag law requiring law enforcement to more aggressively pursue what’s called "extreme risk protection orders."
An ERPO allows a judge to order confiscation of weapons from someone deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
Data updated by the state this week shows the massive increase since then.
Between August 2019 and May 17, 2022, an ERPO was filed against 833 individuals across New York. Since then, the number is 4,709 — a nearly sixfold increase.
The rate of increase has been even higher in Suffolk.
Before Hochul’s executive order, an ERPO had been filed against 169 individuals in Suffolk. Since then, 1,506, about a ninefold increase.
That dwarfs activity in any other county in New York. The second-most active county, Erie, had 267 over the last 13 months.
By itself, Suffolk has averaged taking action on more than 100 individuals per month since the state stepped up enforcement. It has accounted for nearly one-third of all the red flag filings in the state.
The Suffolk County Police Department embraced the first red flag law in the state in 2019, when the measure simply encouraged police to issue the orders, said Kate Fohrkolb, assistant deputy police commissioner. So when the law changed in 2022 to require the reporting, the department was already on board, and its officers were trained to make orders and arrange mental health support, Fohrkolb said.
“We have a lot of buy-in in Suffolk County with the county executive, the sheriff and courts,” she said Friday. “We really have a lot of stakeholders who see the value in all this, and we work together.”
“It’s a great tool, and it’s another way for officers to prevent another violent act,” Fohrkolb said. “We just want to help to help keep people safe.”’
Nassau County has been much less active, but more in the middle of the pack statewide.
From August 2019 to May 18, 2022, Nassau issued these orders against 20 individuals. Since the Hochul executive order in May 2022, it has issued orders against 35 individuals, ranking it 29th among the state’s 62 counties, according to data from the Office of Court Administration.
Hochul and allies have said red flag law can help prevent gun violence.
The Democratic governor issued an executive order on May 18, 2022 — four days after an 18-year-old white supremacist killed 10 people at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo.
The order directed state troopers to apply for an ERPO when there is probable cause that someone posed a danger to themselves or others.
Weeks later, the Democratic-dominated State Legislature and Hochul joined to approve a new law expanding the executive order to all law enforcement agencies and district attorneys.
Asked about the steep increase in the use of the red flag law, the governor said in a statement sent to Newsday: "After 10 of my neighbors in Buffalo were murdered in a mass shooting, I wanted to make sure New York used every possible tool we had to get guns away from dangerous individuals and protect New Yorkers. Through executive action and working with the legislature, I strengthened our gun safety laws, including our Red Flag Laws, and these actions are working, helping keep New Yorkers safe.”
The red flag law is facing challenges in upstate courts.
In separate lawsuits, judges in Monroe and Orange counties have ruled, the law doesn’t provide due process to individuals and violates the Second Amendment.
Among other things, Justice Craig Stephen Brown in Orange County said a medical or mental health expert — not law enforcement — should determine whether a person is a threat to himself or others. Some proponents of the law have disagreed, saying the red flag law doesn’t require a medical diagnosis before an order is issued.
Both lawsuits are under appeal at midlevel state courts.
The use of ERPO has taken off since the mass shootings in Buffalo and — just days later — Uvalde, Texas, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Gun Violence Solutions, which tracks the use of ERPO nationally.
Nineteen states, including New York, had flag laws before the incidents but hadn’t used them all that much in comparison with afterward. Two other states have adopted a red flag law after Uvalde.
“Following Buffalo and Uvalde, ERPO was seen as one of several tools that could help end gun violence and a tool that could get bipartisan support,” said Spencer Cantrell, federal adviser for the Johns Hopkins center.
She said uneven use of protective orders across counties or cities in a state has been common and probably is most linked to local investment and training. It’s not unusual to see one county — such as Suffolk — far ahead of its colleagues.
“You often see one or two cities or one or two counties really leading in ERPO implementation,” Cantrell said. “What we see as the cause of that is investment in training and infrastructure. Once you have that investment in place — law enforcement, judicial officers, mental health professionals, attorneys, prosecutors — and you have the procedures in place, it’s easier to replicate those successes.”
With Michael Gormley
ALBANY — The use of the “red flag” law to allow New York judges to confiscate weapons from people deemed dangerous has soared over the last 13 months — with Suffolk County by far the most active jurisdiction across the state, new data shows.
The wave corresponds to mid-May 2022, when Gov. Kathy Hochul — responding just days after the Buffalo supermarket massacre — signed an executive order and the red flag law requiring law enforcement to more aggressively pursue what’s called "extreme risk protection orders."
An ERPO allows a judge to order confiscation of weapons from someone deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
Data updated by the state this week shows the massive increase since then.
WHAT TO KNOW
- The use of the “red flag” law to allow New York judges to confiscate weapons from people deemed dangerous has soared over last 13 months.
- Between August 2019 and May 17, 2022, such orders were filed against 833 individuals across New York state. Since then: 4,709.
- Suffolk County is the most active jurisdiction in the state. Since May 2022, orders were filed against 1,506 people in that county.
Between August 2019 and May 17, 2022, an ERPO was filed against 833 individuals across New York. Since then, the number is 4,709 — a nearly sixfold increase.
The rate of increase has been even higher in Suffolk.
Before Hochul’s executive order, an ERPO had been filed against 169 individuals in Suffolk. Since then, 1,506, about a ninefold increase.
That dwarfs activity in any other county in New York. The second-most active county, Erie, had 267 over the last 13 months.
By itself, Suffolk has averaged taking action on more than 100 individuals per month since the state stepped up enforcement. It has accounted for nearly one-third of all the red flag filings in the state.
The Suffolk County Police Department embraced the first red flag law in the state in 2019, when the measure simply encouraged police to issue the orders, said Kate Fohrkolb, assistant deputy police commissioner. So when the law changed in 2022 to require the reporting, the department was already on board, and its officers were trained to make orders and arrange mental health support, Fohrkolb said.
“We have a lot of buy-in in Suffolk County with the county executive, the sheriff and courts,” she said Friday. “We really have a lot of stakeholders who see the value in all this, and we work together.”
“It’s a great tool, and it’s another way for officers to prevent another violent act,” Fohrkolb said. “We just want to help to help keep people safe.”’
Nassau County has been much less active, but more in the middle of the pack statewide.
From August 2019 to May 18, 2022, Nassau issued these orders against 20 individuals. Since the Hochul executive order in May 2022, it has issued orders against 35 individuals, ranking it 29th among the state’s 62 counties, according to data from the Office of Court Administration.
Hochul and allies have said red flag law can help prevent gun violence.
The Democratic governor issued an executive order on May 18, 2022 — four days after an 18-year-old white supremacist killed 10 people at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo.
The order directed state troopers to apply for an ERPO when there is probable cause that someone posed a danger to themselves or others.
Weeks later, the Democratic-dominated State Legislature and Hochul joined to approve a new law expanding the executive order to all law enforcement agencies and district attorneys.
Asked about the steep increase in the use of the red flag law, the governor said in a statement sent to Newsday: "After 10 of my neighbors in Buffalo were murdered in a mass shooting, I wanted to make sure New York used every possible tool we had to get guns away from dangerous individuals and protect New Yorkers. Through executive action and working with the legislature, I strengthened our gun safety laws, including our Red Flag Laws, and these actions are working, helping keep New Yorkers safe.”
The red flag law is facing challenges in upstate courts.
In separate lawsuits, judges in Monroe and Orange counties have ruled, the law doesn’t provide due process to individuals and violates the Second Amendment.
Among other things, Justice Craig Stephen Brown in Orange County said a medical or mental health expert — not law enforcement — should determine whether a person is a threat to himself or others. Some proponents of the law have disagreed, saying the red flag law doesn’t require a medical diagnosis before an order is issued.
Both lawsuits are under appeal at midlevel state courts.
The use of ERPO has taken off since the mass shootings in Buffalo and — just days later — Uvalde, Texas, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Gun Violence Solutions, which tracks the use of ERPO nationally.
Nineteen states, including New York, had flag laws before the incidents but hadn’t used them all that much in comparison with afterward. Two other states have adopted a red flag law after Uvalde.
“Following Buffalo and Uvalde, ERPO was seen as one of several tools that could help end gun violence and a tool that could get bipartisan support,” said Spencer Cantrell, federal adviser for the Johns Hopkins center.
She said uneven use of protective orders across counties or cities in a state has been common and probably is most linked to local investment and training. It’s not unusual to see one county — such as Suffolk — far ahead of its colleagues.
“You often see one or two cities or one or two counties really leading in ERPO implementation,” Cantrell said. “What we see as the cause of that is investment in training and infrastructure. Once you have that investment in place — law enforcement, judicial officers, mental health professionals, attorneys, prosecutors — and you have the procedures in place, it’s easier to replicate those successes.”
With Michael Gormley
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