In 2023, Minnesota enacted a law that enables certain individuals to petition a court to temporarily remove guns from a person in crisis.¹ The law, which will go into effect on January 1, 2024, is called an extreme risk protection order, or ERPO, and allows chief law enforcement officers, family and household members, and city or county attorneys to file a petition demonstrating to a judge that an individual poses a significant danger to others or is at similar risk of suicide.² 

Minnesota courts may issue both emergency and final ERPOs. An emergency order does not require notice to the respondent, but will only last for up to fourteen days before a hearing must be held to determine whether a final order is appropriate.³ For a final order, if the court determines that the petitioner has met the standard of proof, it will issue an order that lasts not less than six months or more than one year.⁴ 

An individual subject to an ERPO must relinquish their guns to law enforcement or a Federal Firearms Licensee within 24 hours and will be prohibited from possessing firearms for the duration of the order.⁵ 

A petitioner may file a petition to renew the order within the three month’s before the order’s expiration, subject to the same standard of review and duration as the original order.⁶  

A respondent may petition for early termination once every six months the order is in effect. They must show by clear and convincing evidence they no longer pose a significant danger to others or similar risk of suicide.⁷

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1. Minn. Stat. § 624.7171 et seq., effective Jan. 1, 2024.[↩]
2. Minn. Stat. § 624.7171(4)(b), effective Jan. 1, 2024.[↩]
3. Minn. Stat. § 624.7174(c),(e), effective Jan. 1, 2024.[↩]
4. Minn. Stat. § 624.7172(2)(e), effective Jan. 1, 2024.[↩]
5. Minn. Stat. § 624.7175, effective Jan. 1, 2024.[↩]
6. Minn. Stat. § 624.7173(a), effective Jan. 1, 2024.[↩]
7. Minn. Stat. § 624.7173(b), effective Jan. 1, 2024.[↩]