A Houston Democrat has filed legislation that would let Texas judges strip gun owners of their firearms for up to a year, reversing the state's current ban on red-flag laws. State Rep. Ann Johnson's House Bill 218 would create a system of extreme-risk protective orders, and under the proposal, someone deemed an immediate danger could be ordered to hand over their firearms to law enforcement within 24 hours.
What the Bill Would Actually Do
Johnson, a Democrat representing District 134 in Houston, filed the bill to repeal Texas' prohibition on red-flag laws, according to a report. The measure would authorize extreme-risk protective orders that could temporarily restrict a person's access to firearms, and family members, household members and law enforcement officers would all be able to apply for one. A criminal charge or conviction would not be required to seek the civil order, the same report notes.
The process would move fast in urgent cases. A judge could issue a temporary order without notifying the person beforehand or holding a hearing, so long as the application establishes grounds to believe the person poses an immediate danger. That temporary order could compel the person to surrender their firearms to law enforcement within 24 hours, and a full hearing would then have to be held within 14 days of either the application or the temporary order, whichever comes later.
A Yearlong Order, With Limits
To issue a longer-lasting order after that hearing, a judge would need clear and convincing evidence that the person poses an immediate and present danger because of serious mental illness combined with access to firearms. If granted, the order would last one year and could prohibit the person from purchasing, owning, possessing or controlling firearms. Judges could renew it for up to one more year following another hearing and personal notice to the person involved, and anyone subject to an order could request a review starting on its 91st day.
The bill would also require the Texas Department of Public Safety to report information about people under these orders to the FBI, for entry into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and the agency would have until October 1, 2027 to write the rules for that reporting requirement. Knowingly buying, owning, possessing or controlling a firearm in violation of an order — after being notified of it — would become a Class A misdemeanor. If lawmakers pass HB 218, it would take effect September 1, 2027.
Part of a Larger Reversal Fight
The bill directly targets a law Texas already has on the books. Senate Bill 1362, passed in 2025, restricts state and local enforcement of red-flag laws and took effect September 1 of that year, according to the same source covering the broader package of bills. As of the latest report, none of the gun proposals filed for the upcoming session — including HB 218 — had become law.
Johnson's bill isn't an isolated effort. House Bill 613, filed by state Rep. Suleman Lalani, would generally require a person making a private firearm transfer to request a background check through a federally licensed dealer, per the same report. The flurry of filings comes ahead of the 90th Texas Legislature, which is scheduled to convene January 12, 2027.
The volume of gun legislation already piling up reflects how contentious the issue has become heading into the session. A tracker from gfalaw.us counted 39 bills filed for the 2027 session as of November 12. A separate count from The Texan found 23 gun-related bills introduced since pre-filing opened November 9, with all but one filed in the Texas House — though the two counts reflect different snapshots and counting methods.
Research on extreme-risk protective orders elsewhere has pointed to measurable effects. A study indexed on PubMed found that ERPO passage was associated with a mean reduction of 3.79 firearm suicides per 100,000 population after one year, equivalent to an estimated 675 suicides — though that figure comes from a brief summary and the underlying methods weren't detailed in the available excerpt.
For now, HB 218 remains a filed proposal rather than law, and KHOU 11 reports it would need to clear the upcoming legislative session before any of its provisions could take effect.
