>> While congress is unable to
agree on major new federal gun
safety legislation, some states
are making progress on their own
laws.
The democratic-controlled
Michigan senate passed a major
gun safety package sending it to
the house, also controlled by
Democrats and expected to pass,
as well.
It was spurred by last month's
shooting that killed three
students and wounded five others
at Michigan state university
less then four miles from the
Michigan capital.
Lisa Geller is the director of
state policy at Johns Hopkins
center for gun violence
solutions.
A lot of these things are things
gun safety advocates want
congress to do.
Expanding the types of
transactions where a background
check is required.
Red flag laws.
Is this state law going to be as
effective as a national law?
>> Thank you for having me.
What we know about how gun
policy and gun violence
prevention has, it is typically
at the state level.
Last summer, president Biden
signed the bipartisan the
community's act into law.
Most of what we have seen on gun
violence has been at the state
level.
While it would be great to pass
universal background checks,
have a storage law to apply to
all 50 states, the same with an
extremist protection order, it
is unfortunately the reality of
getting gun policy passed at the
state level.
>> He was able to buy his
weapons legally, even though he
had a history of mental
problems.
>> Extremist protection orders
are designed to be a
preventative measure.
If an individual is at risk of
harm to self or other, an
individual in that state can be
family, household members, law
enforcement, and other groups
can petition a court to make
sure they temporarily don't have
access to firearms.
While I won't say any one policy
would absolutely prevent it, we
do know that these laws are
being used every day to
temporarily restrict access to
firearms from someone at risk of
gun violence.
>> While the law being
considered in the legislature
would expand background checks,
include gun shows, close the gun
show loophole, you have a state
of Indiana to the south with
much less restrictive gun laws
as people in Chicago and
Illinois no.
How do you solve that problem,
the checkerboard nature of state
laws and the fact state borders
are poorest?
>> You are right.
I say your states gun laws are
only as good as your neighboring
state gun laws.
Certainly someone, if they were
determined, could travel to a
neighboring state and still
possess a gun.
It is important to put the
protection into state law to
prevent the purchase.
>> Are there other states moving
forward in this way?
>> This legislative session, a
lot happening on gun violence
prevention.
Michigan's neighbor in Minnesota
is also considering an extremist
protection order.
19 states in the district of
Columbia already have these laws
in place.
What we saw last summer was
congress allocated funding for
the first time to implement
these gun laws.
I'm hopeful not only the 19th
state and district of Columbia
with extremist protection orders
will have funding to implement
them, but other states will
follow suit now that there is a
funding stream to make sure they
are used equitably and
efficiently.
>> You were talking to lawmakers
in Michigan, what have they said
about the Michigan state
shooting, how it affected them
and whether this is the main
impetus for what is going on?
>> Because Democrats control the
trifecta in Michigan.
That is ultimately making these
bills able to go through and be
signed by the governor into law
in the next couple of weeks.
Emigrants also tried introducing
this legislation after the
oxford heights shooting in
Michigan and introduce gun
violence protection policies for
several years.
The Michigan state university
shooting combined with the fact
Democrats have control of the
Michigan legislature means we
can actually do something now to
keep people safe from gun
violence in Michigan.
>> You mentioned the safer
communities act, which was
passed by congress, signed into
law by president Biden, is it
having an effect?
>> We know that funding has been
allocated to states to implement
crisis intervention orders.
They include the red flag law,
the extremist protection order.
I'm proud to announce the Johns
Hopkins center for gun violence
solutions got a grant from the
department of justice to enact a
national extremist protection
order training in technical
assistance sector.
As codirector, I will be able to
work directly to have extremist
protection orders to make sure
they are utilizing the fund and
implementing them in the ways
they need to to reduce gun
violence.
It is a historic accomplishment
the Biden administration has
been able to do to prioritize
gun violence prevention.
We saw it with more executive
orders that really solidify the
bipartisan safer communities
act.
I'm hopeful and excited about
the next couple of years with
federal funding to enact these
policies.
>> Lisa Geller, thank you very
much.