Betz Marian E, Frattaroli Shannon, Knoepke Christopher E, Johnson Rachel, Christy Annette, Schleimer Julia P, Pear Veronica A, McCarthy Megan, Kapoor Reena, Norko Michael A, Rowhani-Rahbar Ali, Ma Wenjuan, Wintemute Garen J, Swanson Jeffrey W, Zeoli April M
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
Clin Gerontol. 2024 Jul-Sep;47(4):536-543. doi: 10.1080/07317115.2023.2254279. Epub 2023 Sep 9.
Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) allow a court to restrict firearm access for individuals ("respondents") at imminent risk of harm to self/others. Little is known about ERPOs use for older adults, a population with higher rates of suicide and dementia.
We abstracted ERPO cases through June 30, 2020, from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, and Washington. We restricted our analysis to petitions for older (≥65 years) respondents, stratified by documented cognitive impairment.
Among 6,699 ERPO petitions, 672 (10.0%) were for older adults; 13.7% ( = 92) of these noted cognitive impairment. Most were white (75.7%) men (90.2%). Cognitively impaired (vs. non-impaired) respondents were older (mean age 78.2 vs 72.7 years) and more likely to have documented irrational/erratic behavior (30.4% vs 15.7%), but less likely to have documented suicidality (33.7% vs 55.0%). At the time of the petition, 56.2% of older adult respondents had documented firearm access (median accessible firearms = 3, range 1-160).
Approximately 14% of ERPO petitions for older adults involved cognitive impairment; one-third of these noted suicide risk. Studies examining ERPO implementation across states may inform usage and awareness.
ERPOs may reduce firearm access among older adults with cognitive impairment, suicidality, or risk of violence.
极端风险保护令（ERPOs）允许法院限制对自身/他人面临紧迫伤害风险的个人（“被申请人”）获取枪支。对于老年人群体（自杀和痴呆发生率较高）使用极端风险保护令的情况，我们知之甚少。
我们从加利福尼亚州、科罗拉多州、康涅狄格州、佛罗里达州、马里兰州和华盛顿州提取了截至2020年6月30日的极端风险保护令案件。我们将分析限制在针对老年（≥65岁）被申请人的申请上，并按记录的认知障碍进行分层。
在6699份极端风险保护令申请中，672份（10.0%）是针对老年人的；其中13.7%（n = 92）提到了认知障碍。大多数是白人（75.7%）男性（90.2%）。有认知障碍（与无认知障碍相比）的被申请人年龄更大（平均年龄78.2岁对72.7岁），更有可能有记录的非理性/古怪行为（30.4%对15.7%），但记录有自杀倾向的可能性较小（33.7%对55.0%）。在申请时，56.2%的老年被申请人有记录的枪支获取情况（可获取枪支的中位数 = 3，范围1 - 160）。
约14%的针对老年人的极端风险保护令申请涉及认知障碍；其中三分之一提到了自杀风险。对各州极端风险保护令实施情况的研究可能会为其使用和认知提供信息。
极端风险保护令可能会减少有认知障碍、自杀倾向或暴力风险的老年人获取枪支的情况。
