Ann Johnson Files Bill To Create Texas Extreme Risk Firearm Orders
Houston Rep. Ann Johnson filed HB 218, which would let courts issue extreme risk orders and require firearm surrender within 24 hours. The bill is not law.
AUSTIN, Texas – Houston state Rep. Ann Johnson has filed a bill that would let Texas courts issue extreme risk protective orders and, in those cases, require a person to turn over firearms to law enforcement within 24 hours, according to the filed text of House Bill 218.
Johnson, a Democrat who represents House District 134 in Harris County, filed the bill on Nov. 9, according to the Texas Legislature’s bill history. The caption says it relates to extreme risk protective orders, including their creation, issuance and enforcement, and that it would create criminal offenses.
The bill is not law. If it is enacted, it would take effect Sept. 1, 2027, according to the introduced text.
Who Could Ask For An Order
Under the filed text, an application could be filed by a member of the person’s family or household, a parent, guardian or conservator of a minor in that family or household, or a peace officer. The application would have to be signed under oath and include detailed allegations, based on personal knowledge, of dangerous behavior tied to a serious mental illness, including conduct related to firearms.
The applicant would also have to state a belief that the person poses an immediate and present danger of causing bodily injury, serious bodily injury or death to anyone, including themselves, because of that serious mental illness and access to firearms, according to the bill.
The 24 Hour Surrender Rule
A judge could issue a temporary order without prior notice or a hearing if the application shows reasonable cause to believe that danger exists, according to the bill. That temporary order could bar the person from buying, owning, possessing or controlling a firearm.
In a temporary order, the court could also require the person to relinquish firearms to a law enforcement agency no later than 24 hours after the order is issued, surrender a license to carry a handgun and submit to a mental health examination, according to the text.
The court would then have to hold a hearing no later than the 14th day after the later of the date the application is filed or the temporary order is issued, and the person would have to receive personal notice of that hearing, according to the bill. To issue a longer order after the hearing, the judge would have to find, by clear and convincing evidence, that the same danger exists.
An order issued after a hearing would last one year and could be renewed for up to one additional year after another hearing, according to the text. It would again require firearms to be turned over within 24 hours, suspend a handgun license and, when recommended after an examination, require outpatient mental health services. A person subject to an order could ask the court to review it beginning on the 91st day.
The bill would also make it a Class A misdemeanor for a person who has notice of an extreme risk protective order to buy, own, possess or control a firearm in violation of that order, and a Class B misdemeanor to make a false statement to a peace officer to get an officer to file an application, according to the text. The Department of Public Safety would have until Oct. 1, 2027, to adopt required rules.
Johnson was also named this week to a House rules workgroup. The Maverick Times reported that Dean Senfronia Thompson named a bipartisan group of 12 lawmakers to recommend new House rules before the session opens Jan. 12, and Johnson is on that list.
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