Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, voiced her outrage on Saturday for the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) new resource center aimed at keeping guns away from extreme risk individuals.
Gun violence has become increasingly prevalent in America in the past decade. According to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence in the United States, there has been 167,263 gun deaths since 2014. While 2018 and 2023 saw a dip in gun deaths, it has been an upward trend for the most part. Last year, there were 18,854 gun deaths and 36,338 injuries related to firearms.
To combat gun deaths, many states have enacted extreme risk protection orders or red flag laws. These laws allow law enforcement, medical professionals and, in most states with this legislation, family members to petition a court to temporarily seize an individual's firearms and/or prohibit them from purchasing additional guns if they pose a threat to themselves or others.
Gun control advocates believe legislation, like red flag laws, need to be implemented to protect American lives. Meanwhile, gun rights advocates worry of gun control measures infringing on Americans' Second Amendment right to "bear arms."
On Saturday, the DOJ announced that it was launching the National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center. The center will provide training and technical assistance to law enforcement, judges, clinicians, and other groups responsible for implementing red flag laws.
"The launch of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center will provide our partners across the country with valuable resources to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press release. "The establishment of the Center is the latest example of the Justice Department's work to use every tool provided by the landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to protect communities from gun violence."
Greene responded to Garland's comments, which were shared on X, formerly Twitter.
"Merrick Garland just announced a massive Red Flag Operation that the DOJ will be running by using EVERY spy tool the US government has in order to violate American's Second Amendment!!" the congresswoman wrote on Saturday. "This comes right after [House Speaker Mike] Johnson fully funded [President Joe] Biden's weaponized DOJ!"
It is unclear what spy tools Greene was referring to. Newsweek reached out to Greene's office for clarification. It also reached out to the DOJ via online form for comment.
In her Saturday X post, Greene also referenced Johnson's $1.2 trillion spending bill, which Congress passed on Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown. The bill funds, in part, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Greene, along with 111 other Republicans, voted against it.
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