Mississippi does NOT have an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) or "red flag" statute. The Mississippi Legislature has not enacted, and the Governor has...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Mississippi does NOT have an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) or "red flag" statute. The Mississippi Legislature has not enacted, and the Governor has not signed, any law that authorizes a court to issue a temporary firearm-disarmament order against a person identified as a risk to self or others.
Mississippi residents who are subject to firearm-disarmament orders are subject to them under federal law (18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(8) qualifying domestic-violence restraining orders, 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(9) misdemeanor crime of domestic violence convictions) or under Mississippi general civil-protection-order statutes for domestic violence that may incidentally restrict firearm access.
In states that have enacted them, ERPO statutes typically:
States that have enacted ERPO statutes include California, Connecticut, Indiana, Washington, Oregon, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and others. Mississippi is among the 21 states (as of 2026) without such a statute.
Mississippi has historically declined ERPO legislation, citing:
The absence of ERPO is a deliberate legislative choice. A petitioner who believes a Mississippi resident is a danger to self or others must use existing mechanisms.
Mississippi has involuntary-commitment statutes for mental-health and substance-abuse crises. A person who is involuntarily committed to a mental institution becomes a federal prohibited person under 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(4) and a Mississippi LTC ineligibility disqualifier under Section 45-9-101(2)(i). The Mississippi Department of Mental Health and county chancery clerks administer the involuntary-commitment process.
A commitment requires a court order based on evidence that the person is a danger to self or others or is unable to provide for basic personal needs. The process involves a hearing, the right to counsel, and a defined burden of proof. The federal Section 922(g)(4) disqualifier attaches automatically once the commitment is final.
Mississippi's domestic-violence protective-order statutes (Miss. Code Ann. Sections 93-21-1 to 93-21-29 et al.) allow a court to issue a temporary or final protective order on a showing of past or threatened abuse. A qualifying protective order can trigger the federal Section 922(g)(8) prohibitor, automatically barring the subject from federal firearm possession.
Mississippi's domestic-violence framework does NOT include an automatic state-law firearm-surrender requirement built into the protective order. The federal Section 922(g)(8) prohibition is the operative legal disarmament. Enforcement is by federal investigation or, where the subject is found in possession, by federal prosecution. State law-enforcement officers may also note the prohibition during any state-law contact.
A person who threatens or commits violence is subject to the conventional criminal-process framework: arrest, charge, pre-trial conditions (which may include surrender of firearms as a condition of release), conviction, and sentence. Many of these mechanisms produce a federal prohibitor by their nature - a felony charge tolls Section 922(n) (unlawful for an indicted-for-felony person to receive a firearm), and a conviction triggers Section 922(g)(1).
A person voluntarily or involuntarily committed for substance abuse triggers Section 45-9-101(2)(e) LTC ineligibility (with a three-year lookback) and may trigger federal Section 922(g)(3) ("unlawful user") prohibition depending on the underlying facts.
If a Mississippi resident is concerned that a household or family member presents a risk:
None of these mechanisms is a true ERPO substitute, but each addresses a slice of the cases ERPO laws typically reach.
The federal Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 (P.L. 117-159) included incentives for states to adopt ERPO laws, but it did not impose a federal ERPO. There is no federal cause of action for a private citizen to obtain an ERPO. Mississippi residents do not have a federal-court alternative to a state ERPO.
When a state issues an ERPO against a Mississippi resident based on conduct in that state, the practical reciprocity question is whether Mississippi will enforce the ERPO. The answer is generally no: Mississippi has no statute authorizing recognition or enforcement of out-of-state ERPOs, and the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution does not require Mississippi to enforce another state's firearm-disarmament order in the absence of a recognized federal framework.
That said, if an out-of-state ERPO produces a finding that triggers a federal Section 922(g) prohibitor (for example, a finding that the subject is a person committed to a mental institution), the federal prohibitor applies in Mississippi regardless of state-law recognition of the ERPO.
The federal Section 922(g) prohibitors collectively cover most of the case categories an ERPO would target:
A Mississippi resident in any of these categories is federally prohibited from firearm possession. The legal effect overlaps substantially with what an ERPO would impose, although the procedural triggers are different.
For Mississippi residents:
| State | ERPO statute? |
|---|---|
| Mississippi | No |
| Tennessee | No |
| Florida | Yes |
| California | Yes |
| Washington | Yes (RCW 7.105) |
| Indiana | Yes |
| Texas | No |
| Louisiana | No |
Mississippi is squarely in the no-ERPO group.
Mississippi has no red flag / ERPO statute. The state relies on existing involuntary-commitment, domestic-violence protective-order, and criminal-process mechanisms, layered with federal Section 922(g) prohibitors, to address high-risk firearm cases. Concerned family members and friends should use those existing mechanisms; there is no ERPO petition pathway in Mississippi.
This page covers one part of our Mississippi concealed carry guide.
Read the complete Mississippi guideBrowse local instructors offering state-approved training in your area. Book online, complete your training, and get one step closer to your concealed carry permit.