Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, Alexandra Dent, Maria Cruz, Sativa Banks, Amanda J Aubel, Shani Buggs, Veronica A Pear
While nearly two-thirds (63.2%; n = 2,188) of survey respondents favored police-initiated petitions, write-in responses illuminated nuanced and context-dependent tradeoffs situated within racialized legal, political, and economic systems. These tradeoffs included: (1) systems knowledge versus relational and contextual knowledge; (2) mainstream credibility versus direct lines of communication; (3) procedural burden versus personal capacity and responsibility; (4) fear of repercussions versus wariness of law enforcement; and (5) law enforcement training and risk assessment versus alternative crisis response options.
INTRODUCTION: Extreme risk protection order (ERPO) laws, known as gun violence restraining order (GVRO) laws in California, allow temporary recovery of firearms from individuals at substantial risk of harming themselves or others. Although law enforcement officers are the most common ERPO petitioners, even in states where family members and others are authorized to petition, public preferences regarding police involvement in the petitioning process remain underexplored.
METHODS: We use data from the 2024 California Safety and Wellbeing Survey, a repeated cross-sectional general population online survey of California adults, to estimate the prevalence of support for and opposition to police-initiated petitions and thematically analyze open-ended responses describing the reasons for these preferences.
RESULTS: While nearly two-thirds (63.2%; n = 2,188) of survey respondents favored police-initiated petitions, write-in responses illuminated nuanced and context-dependent tradeoffs situated within racialized legal, political, and economic systems. These tradeoffs included: (1) systems knowledge versus relational and contextual knowledge; (2) mainstream credibility versus direct lines of communication; (3) procedural burden versus personal capacity and responsibility; (4) fear of repercussions versus wariness of law enforcement; and (5) law enforcement training and risk assessment versus alternative crisis response options.
DISCUSSION: Findings underscore the importance of ERPO implementation strategies that are responsive not only to legal and procedural requirements but also to the social and relational contexts in which decisions about petitioning occur. More broadly, findings add support to growing efforts within the field, catalyzed in part by community organizing efforts around health justice and racial equity, to assess, adapt, and scale peer- and community-based navigation approaches that complement existing implementation processes and help ensure more equitable access to the preventive benefits of ERPOs for reducing firearm-related harms.