US gives states $231 million for anti-violence programs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice will award more than $200 million to states and the District of Columbia to bolster gun violence prevention programs under a passed gun control law. by Congress a few months ago, authorities reported Tuesday.

The initiative includes funds for the implementation of “red flag” laws, i.e. extreme risk protection orders, designed to remove weapons from people with potentially violent behavior in order to prevent them from injure themselves or others. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have red flag laws.

Part of the $231 million announced on Tuesday, the fifth anniversary of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, will go to crisis intervention court cases and other violence reduction programs army.

Red flag laws have been promoted by President Joe Biden and activists as an effective tool to prevent gun violence before it happens. However, an Associated Press analysis found they are rarely used, even as gun violence is on the rise across the country. This may be due to a lack of knowledge of the laws or a reluctance to apply them.

For example, the suspect in the massacre at an LGBT club in Colorado Springs, Colorado in November allegedly threatened his mother a year and a half earlier, but there is no record of any attempt by the police or other family members to use this law. .valid in Colorado.

Laws vary from state to state, but generally allow family members or the police to ask the courts to issue an order to remove the person’s guns, for up to one year. There are those who denounce that the law could violate the constitutional right to bear arms. The Department of Justice says the program contains measures to prevent it from being abused.

The funds are part of $1.4 billion approved by Congress for the Justice Department to use over five years for gun violence prevention measures.