FOIA Seeks Information from DOJ on National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center

A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request was filed Tuesday with the Department of Justice by this correspondent to obtain information on the newly announced National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center.

“[The Center]  will provide training and technical assistance to law enforcement officials, prosecutors, attorneys, judges, clinicians, victim service and social service providers, community organizations, and behavioral health professionals responsible for implementing laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a threat to themselves or others,” the Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice announced Saturday.

“The establishment of the Center is the latest example of the Justice Department’s work to use every tool provided by the landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to protect communities from gun violence,” Attorney General Merrick Garland declared.

Democrats continually remind the public the bill was “bipartisan” because it helps them sell infringements as “commonsense gun safety laws” to voters not steeped in such matters beyond how the media influences them. Gun owners who are protective of their rights consider the “compromises” made by Republicans, many of whom owe their seats to Second Amendment activism, continued inexcusable examples of betrayals that are, at best, foolish and naive. In this case, it’s one more example of the all-too-foreseeable consequences when Republicans, trying to appear “reasonable,” either let Democrats outsmart them or hide that they were in on the fix from the start.

That ERPOs, or “red flag laws,” or however they normalized to allow for the denial of a fundamental right without a citizen even being charged with a crime let alone convicted of one, is a gun prohibitionist’s dream. That even Donald Trump, who has pledged Second Amendment fidelity to adoring masses of gun owners, has advocated “take the gun first, go through due process second,” ought to wake them up, but all too often provokes an angry response from the true believers.

Because information regarding the formation of the Center is of public interest, particularly to gun owners who have a personal and legal stake in the way it operates, with whom, and how it achieves mission objectives, the FOIA request seeks records to include:

• All records regarding the creation of the “National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center,” including but not limited to all communications, emails, memoranda, recorded telephone calls, text messages, and notes;
• All records, including but not limited to all communications, emails, memoranda, recorded telephone calls, text messages, and notes from any individual or group to and from the Department of Justice regarding the “National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center;” and
• Any legal citations/correspondence/analysis used in the development of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center’s purpose, scope, and objective demonstrating consistency with the Supreme Court’s Bruen standard of text, history, and tradition at the time the Constitution was ratified.

Who the DOJ is partnering with and how their activities are lawful in light of the Supreme Court’s latest ruling on the Second Amendment are of particular interest.

The FOIA request, filed by attorney Stephen D. Stamboulieh, is embedded below.

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.