(WWJ) Since the so-called "red flag" gun laws were passed in Michigan, an outspoken critic was one of the first to enforce it.
The Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO), which are permitted under new state laws in effect since February, allows for a judge to temporarily remove firearms from an at-risk individual.
Initially, Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy said didn't believe these ERPOs were constitutional, and said he would not enforce the new law. Murphy wasn't alone in this thinking, as the Livingston County Board of Commissioners then declared the county a "constitutional county," and vowed to push back against the law.
Sheriff Murphy said laws were already on the books that accomplished the same thing, and he was concerned about people abusing the law.
"The other part of that was due process, you know, without being able to do this ex parte without having the person be in front of a judge to be able to defend themselves. Just to show up at their door and take their gun is ludicrous," he told WWJ's Ryan Wrecker.
While Murphy said he remains a skeptic of the "red flag" law, he admits his office was one of the first to use it.
"You know, my take on this is simply this: If we have a tool that is available to us that is not under challenge — which I was surprised that there wasn't a challenge on this on the due process end of it ... But, at any rate, if we have a tool that we can use in our toolbox, that's much, much better for us to go that route," Murphy said.
How it works: If a police agency or mental health professional deems you at-risk of potentially hurting yourself or others, and the law is applied, then your guns can be seized immediately after an order is served by a judge. If the law is applied by a family member, and if the order is then approved, the person has 24 hours to turn in their guns. (Learn more here).
In this particular instance, Murphy said his deputy recognized the risk posed by a CPL holder who was experiencing a mental health crisis, the person was taken for a mental evaluation, and he encouraged the deputy to use his discretion when submitting an ERPO to a judge.
"That's what the deputy chose to do. The judge signed off on it, we took the weapons, and that's how that one played out," Murphy said.
Thus far in Livingston County, the sheriff said no one has attempted to abuse the "red flag" law.
"We have yet to have — and I'm knocking on wood — we have yet to have an ERPO issued by our judiciary that did not come from law enforcement," Murphy said. "I can only speak for my office, but we've had one, and that's what prompted this story by you guys and Bridge, frankly."
In the end, Murphy said he doubts the law will have the wide reaching protections promised by politicians to get the legislation passed. But, he said, his department will make use of the ERPO when it makes sense.
MORE >> 35 Michiganders so far have been ordered to turn in their guns under state's new 'red flag law'