In push to reduce violence, use of Florida's red-flag law to remove guns skyrockets

Palm Beach County authorities are rapidly expanding their use of Florida’s red flag law to take guns away from people they consider a risk to themselves or others, a fast-growing front in their efforts to prevent violence and suicide.

The county’s law-enforcement officials lead the state in the increase in their use of risk-protection orders during the past two years, a Palm Beach Post analysis of state court records shows. The county now trails only Polk County in how often it successfully uses the new legal tool, according to records from July 2022 through April.

Risk-protection orders were implemented in Florida five years ago after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in 2018. They allow police officers to ask a court to remove a person’s firearms and bar them from possessing any for up to a year.

Use of the orders has grown steadily across Florida, to more than 2,500 in the past budget year, state records show. In Palm Beach County, usage has spiked even more dramatically.