On Monday, May 11, New Jersey announced the launch of a Department of Justice-funded public campaign to promote awareness and adoption of the state’s Extreme Risk Protective Order (ERPO) laws, which undermine due process by illegally disarming individuals and seizing their firearms without a conviction or court hearing, on an ex parte basis. ERPOs are commonly referred to as “red flag” orders and are routinely rubber-stamped by judges in the state.
The move was announced in a press release issued by the New Jersey Attorney General, calling it a “Gun-Safety Public Awareness Campaign,” which includes a dedicated website, messaging on digital and social platforms, and a second phase element that will “include messaging on billboards and bus shelters, on the radio, and in video format” in seven languages in addition to English and Spanish.
Attorney General Davenport positioned ERPOs and the campaign promoting their use as a tool “to end gun violence in New Jersey.” Yet, the AG’s statement conflicts with a January press release announcing shootings were at a “historic low” in 2025, along with significant reductions in violent crime such as auto theft. Simultaneously, the state sets a new record each month for the number of permit to carry holders, now well over 100,000, according to the state’s permit to carry dashboard, leaving many suspicious about the timing of such an announcement.
The press release notes that the measure is partially funded by a grant award from the “Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program” (SCIP), which is administered through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance. The SCIP is a construction of the Biden-era Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and is still very much in effect (currently accepting grants for 2026), allowing federal funds to flow to states to promote highly contested Extreme Risk Protection Orders. Why the federal government, under a pro-Second Amendment administration, continues to fund ERPO measures is a mystery.
The state has clearly anticipated pushback on the constitutionality of ERPO laws by trying to get in front of questions related to due process in its “Myth” versus “Fact” section, asserting that the laws “prevent any violation of due process.” The state downplays abuse, but time and again, real-life applications prove otherwise.
In October of 2024, the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs (ANJRPC), along with a private citizen, filed a federal lawsuit against the state for abusing its ERPO laws. In that particular case, a citizen with a permit to carry engaged in lawful self-defense against an aggressor, and before even speaking to that citizen, the police initiated, and a judge signed off on a red flag order.
Another well-known “red flag” case in New Jersey involves an anonymous report being filed against an individual over a year-old Facebook post that contained no threats, talk of violence, or any specific individual appearing in the post. This case is yet another example of how these laws strip law-abiding, tax-paying citizens of their property and their rights before giving them their day in court.
New Jersey’s ERPO law, Section 2C:58-23, is particularly egregious. News2A contributor, NRA State Director, and Director of Government Affairs of the Civil Liberties Policy Research Center of New Jersey, Joe LoPorto, described it this way:
…states like New Jersey that provide little to no due process safeguards, where ex parte temporary extreme risk protection orders can be obtained on a vague statement by a police officer, where in-person hearings can be delayed almost indefinitely and where the AG’s Office has, through directives, specifically informed law enforcement that any evidence obtained in executing a TERPO search can be used as admissible evidence of any other crime under the “plain sight doctrine,” making clear that the intent of the law is simply to circumvent the Fourth Amendment altogether.
The timing of the state’s ERPO awareness campaign coincides with heavy scrutiny from the Department of Justice over New Jersey’s so-called “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazine ban, which are being challenged in a major federal lawsuit. Collectively, New Jersey faces nearly one dozen lawsuits challenging the entire gamut of its suppressive gun control scheme, nearly all of which are documented on News2A.
In 2024, we warned that anti-gun states would become more aggressive and more sophisticated in their attack on gun owners, and today that’s coming to fruition in New Jersey. However, it’s particularly ironic that it is funded by the Department of Justice under a pro-2A administration.
“Without the Second Amendment all the other Articles of the Bill of Rights become nothing more than ‘Parchment Promises.’ — Charleton Heston, former president of the NRA, movie star, decorated WWII veteran.