H.R. 7599 — Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2026

This section adds a new section 935 to chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to authorize U.S. district courts to issue federal extreme risk protection orders prohibiting a respondent from purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm or ammunition upon a probable cause finding that the respondent poses a risk of imminent personal injury to self or another by having access to such items. Family or household members (broadly defined to include parents, spouses, siblings, children, dating partners, co-parents, recent co-residents, domestic partners, legal parent-child relations, and legal guardians) or law enforcement officers may petition for an ex parte order (issued same day or next business day based on affidavit evidence, expiring in 14 days) or long-term order (after hearing within 72 hours of an ex parte order or 14 days otherwise), with no fees charged and confidentiality protections for law enforcement petitioners. (Thus, orders must be reported to the national instant criminal background check system, and designated law enforcement officers receive surrendered firearms, ammunition, and permits.)

This section expands the federal firearms prohibitions under 18 U.S.C. 922 by adding persons subject to a court order issued under section 935 or an extreme risk protection order (as defined in section 4(a) of the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2026) to the list of individuals who are prohibited from possessing firearms (new subsection (g)(10)) or from receiving firearms or ammunition from others (new subsection (d)(12)). (Subsection (g) generally prohibits firearm possession by certain persons (e.g., felons, fugitives, and those adjudicated as mentally defective); subsection (d) prohibits sales or transfers to those same persons.)

This section establishes a grant program under the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) of the Department of Justice to assist eligible entities—states or Indian tribes that enact compliant extreme risk protection order (ERPO) legislation (i.e., court orders prohibiting at-risk individuals from possessing firearms) and certify specified uses, or localities and other entities within such jurisdictions—in implementing those laws. Grants may fund enhanced law enforcement and court capacity; training for judges, court personnel, health professionals, legal professionals, and law enforcement to identify at-risk individuals; development of protocols, forms, and orders for safe firearm removal; and public awareness campaigns (including subgrants to community organizations). Recipients must allocate 25 to 70 percent of grant funds for law enforcement training on the equitable use of ERPOs, including addressing bias based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, language proficiency, mental health, disability, and classism, as well as domestic violence applications.

This section amends the Attorney General's duties under 28 U.S.C. 534 by (1) requiring the acquisition, collection, classification, and preservation of records from federal, tribal, and state courts and agencies identifying individuals subject to extreme risk protection orders (i.e., court orders temporarily prohibiting firearm possession by persons deemed an imminent risk, as defined in the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2026), with such records to be destroyed upon order expiration, termination, or dissolution; (2) making conforming changes to cross-references due to paragraph redesignation; and (3) authorizing federal, tribal, and state criminal justice agencies and courts to include extreme risk protection orders in national crime information databases (e.g., FBI's NCIC) and access related information therefrom.

This section requires courts and law enforcement personnel of any state or Indian tribe to give full faith and credit to any extreme risk protection order issued under another state or tribal law enacted in accordance with this Act, enforcing it as if issued locally, provided the issuing court had jurisdiction over the parties and matter and afforded reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard sufficient to protect due process (including, for ex parte orders, notice within the time required by state or tribal law or otherwise within a reasonable time after issuance). This section further grants courts of an Indian tribe full civil jurisdiction to issue and enforce such orders involving any person in matters arising anywhere in the tribe's Indian country (i.e., all land within any Indian reservation under U.S. jurisdiction, all dependent Indian communities within U.S. borders, and all Indian allotments with unextinguished titles) or otherwise within the tribe's authority, including through civil contempt proceedings, exclusion of violators from Indian land, and other appropriate mechanisms.

This section establishes a severability clause, providing that if any provision of this Act or its amendments, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, its amendments, and their applications to other persons or circumstances remain unaffected.