New Report from 97Percent Shows How to Maximize Red Flag Laws by Pairing Them with Behavioral Threat Assessment
Findings offer a unifying, actionable path forward on gun safety
LOS ANGELES (June 5, 2025): As the U.S. continues to grapple with the deadly toll of gun violence, a new report released today by 97Percent outlines a promising path forward: combining Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), commonly known as red flag laws, with Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM) practices to stop violence before it occurs.
The report, Leveraging Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM) to Maximize the Impact of Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), offers the most detailed roadmap to date for using these two strategies in tandem. It draws on decades of federal and academic research, real-world case studies, and 97Percent’s own national survey data to show how structured behavioral threat assessments can make ERPOs more accurate, effective, and fair.
Click here for Executive Summary
“ERPOs work—and they work best when we have a framework that minimizes bias and is based on evidence,” said 97Percent Senior Training Specialist Christopher Carita. “Behavioral threat assessment gives law enforcement and communities the tools to make that determination with clarity, consistency, and precision—while respecting constitutional rights.”
Key findings include:
Broad Support: In a 2024 97Percent survey of 5,100 gun owners, 72% supported ERPO laws. Modeling showed possible majorities in every state, highlighting strong bipartisan support for targeted prevention tools.
Lives Saved: ERPOs have been shown to reduce firearm suicides by up to 6.7% and have prevented potential mass shootings in multiple states when based on BTAM-informed evidence.
Precision Matters: BTAM helps distinguish between true threats and transient behaviors, ensuring ERPOs are applied to individuals at real risk—not those simply experiencing temporary distress.
Training Is Key: The report calls for expanded BTAM training across police, courts, schools, and healthcare systems, and outlines how states can standardize protocols for faster, smarter intervention.
ERPOs have already proven effective in states like California, Florida, and Connecticut. But without proper training and behavioral analysis, these laws can be underused—or misused. This new report lays out actionable recommendations to ensure ERPOs are not just on the books, but saving lives.
97Percent is currently working with law enforcement agencies and public officials across the country to deliver training that aligns red flag law implementation with BTAM best practices. The organization stresses that red flag laws should be deployed with care, but also urgency.
“There’s no single profile for a mass shooter,” says Laura Olson, Head of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at 97Percent. “But there are behavioral warning signs—and those signs are too often missed.”
The full study is available at: www.97percent.us.
About 97Percent
97Percent is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization uniting gun owners and non-gun owners around common-ground measures to reduce gun deaths in America. Our name was inspired by a 2018 Quinnipiac University poll, which found that 97% of Americans support universal background checks—a figure that represents unprecedented agreement on gun safety, despite many believing the issue is intractable.
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Media Contact:
Melissa Amour
info@97percent.us