Last December, 20-year-old Dakota Reed drew the attention of American law enforcement after he posted troubling threats on the internet, claiming a plan for mass slaughter.

Just two weeks after a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue left 11 people dead, Reed appeared to promise to carry on in the dark American tradition of violence, in a post on one of seven Facebook accounts he apparently kept, and used to spread hateful messages. “I’m shooting for 30 Jews,” he wrote.

But Reed never had the chance to make good on those threats in the way that the Pittsburgh shooter and others who have carried out mass violence in recent years have.

Instead, when police were notified by worried observers of the posts, they simply took his guns from him using an extreme risk protection order (also known as “red flag” orders) – a measure that a team of researchers at the University of California Davis School of Medicine has announced could be one of the most effective tools to stop mass shootings, and one Donald Trump is reportedly considering at the national level in the wake of the shootings in El Paso and Dayton.

According to the new report, that instance in Washington is among at least two cases where the so-called red flag laws have stopped a credible threat of a mass shooting. Reed had 12 firearms taken from him.

El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Show all 39 1 /39 El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store CCTV images of the gunman identified as Patrick Crusius The 21 year old, as he entered the Cielo Vista Walmart store in El Paso. The gunman was armed with an assault rifle and opened fire on shoppers at a packed Walmart store, killing 20. KTSM 9/AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Law enforcement agencies respond The Texas city’s police chief said the assault on a Walmart store on Saturday, which left another 26 people wounded, was being investigated as a potential hate crime. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shoppers exit with their hands up Shoppers exit with their hands up after a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 3, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Salgado NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. STRINGER Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store FBI released a picture of gunman Patrick Crusius The police officially identified the 21-year-old white male from Allen, Texas, a Dallas suburb some 650 miles east of El Paso. FBI/AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A woman reacts after the mass shooting The attack came just minutes after a far-right manifesto appeared online. If authentic, it would make it the third mass shooting this year announced in advance on the website, which often features far-right and racist content. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Law enforcement responds to the active shooter The racist four-page document, titled “The Inconvenient Truth”, calls the Walmart attack “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas” and expresses support for the gunman who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand earlier this year. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A shopper hiding with an old lady behind the return and exchanges counter as the shooting began. Aaron Castaneda/Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Ambulances in the car park near the scene It is ranked as the eighth-deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, after a 1984 shooting in San Ysidro, California, that claimed 21 lives. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Kendall Long (left) comforts Kianna Long (right) who was in the freezer section of Walmart. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store epa07755367 Police stand at attention after a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, USA, 03 August 2019. According to reports, at least one person was killed and at least 18 people injured and transported to local hospitals. One suspect is in custody. EPA/IVAN PIERRE AGUIRRE IVAN PIERRE AGUIRRE EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shoppers exit with their hands up. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shopping carts sit next to a curb after the shooting. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store El Paso Fire Medical personnel arrive at the scene. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Walmart employees react after. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A woman runs to police near the scene. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Several law enforcement agencies respond. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People arrive at MacArthur Elementary looking for family and friends as the school is being used a re-unification centre. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Residents Erica Rios, 36, and Alma Rios, 61, cry outside a reunification centre. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People gather in Juarez, Mexico, in a vigil for the Mexican nationals who were killed. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A child takes part in a vigil in Ciudad Juarez AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Francisco Castaneda joins mourners taking part in a vigil at El Paso High School. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Presidential candidate and former congressman Beto O'Rourke, right, meets with mass shooting survivor, Rosemary, at University Medical Centre Beto O'Rourke Facebook via AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store From left, Melody Stout, Hannah Payan, Aaliyah Alba, Sherie Gramlich and Laura Barrios comfort each other during a vigil for victims of the shooting. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A sign is posted near the scene Getty Images El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Police cars parked below the Walmart sign block a road outside while investigating. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Sherie Gramlich reacts during a vigil. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A man places flowers at the site Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People take part in a rally against hate a day after a mass shooting at the Walmart store Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Lupe Lopez holds a picture of a victim during a vigil for victims AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People take part in a rally against hate a day after a mass shooting at a Walmart store, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 4, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ REUTERS El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Elsa Mendoza Marquez, a Mexican schoolteacher who was married and the mother of two adult children, was one of the victims Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People with the Mexican flag and the US flag take part in a rally against hate a day Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People raise their arms in the air during a vigil for victims AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People react and embrace each other Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Women light candles at a make shift memorial at the site of a mass shooting EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Adria Gonzalez (centre) who is being hailed as a hero for leading some Walmart customers to safety, speaks to the crowd AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People hold up their phones AFP/Getty Images El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Beto O'Rourke speaks to the crowd AFP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People react during a prayer and candle vigil organized by the city, after a shooting left 20 people dead at the Cielo Vista Mall WalMart in El Paso, Texas, on August 4, 2019. - A shooting at a Walmart store in Texas left multiple people dead. At least one suspect was taken into custody after the shooting in the border city of El Paso, triggering fear and panic among weekend shoppers as well as widespread condemnation. It was the second fatal shooting in less than a week at a Walmart store in the US and comes after a mass shooting in California last weekend. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP)MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images MARK RALSTON AFP/Getty

The other instance occurred in 2018, after an 18-year-old man described the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, just one day earlier as “fantastic”. He later made concrete threats, including a plan to commit a mass shooting at his high school, leading authorities to confiscate the 14 firearms he owned using a red flag law that was signed in April, just two months after Parkland.

Vermont and Washington are among 17 states, plus the District of Columbia which includes the capital, where extreme risk protection orders have been pushed through, according to the gun control advocacy group Giffords, with the first of those laws dating all the way back to 1999, when Connecticut led the way with their first-in-the-nation bill.

But it wasn’t until the shooting in Parkland that the laws really gained momentum. Before 2018, just five were on the books. And, since then, 13 laws have been signed across the country, including in states such as Florida, which has had a Republican governor and legislature, and a reputation for bowing to the American gun lobby.

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“In the wake of tragedies like Parkland, and other mass shootings, we connect these dots after the fact, and it begs the question of why not enact and empower people to prevent these strategies?” said Sam Levy, counsel with the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.

The movement across the country to pass the laws following Parkland – which, as it turns out, may have been avoided as the shooter had a long and well documented history of brushes with the police and trouble at school – seeks to do more than address mass shootings, though. Other forms of gun violence could be helped by the laws, too.

Suicides, for instance, made up roughly 60 per cent of the 39,773 gun-related deaths in 2017 in the United States, the last year that data was available from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and red flag laws could mean a watchful eye from a friend or family member could help protect a person with suicidal thoughts.

In the new study, 159 records of the protection orders reviewed between 2016 and 2018 found that none of those individuals ultimately committed homicide or killed themselves with guns.

“We’ve found it to be impactful, especially in terms of firearm suicides,” Mr Levy said.

In terms of process, the laws vary, but they generally allow people to petition a court to remove someone’s guns, their magazines, and their ammunition in the case of emergencies. The courts can do so for, in some cases, up to three weeks. In California, a judge can extend the confiscation order for up to a year.

Amy Hunter, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association (NRA), told The Independent that the gun rights group could support certain red flag laws, but only if due process rights in the US constitution are honoured.

Those who write the laws say they write the measures with those concerns specifically in mind. Ms Hunter declined to list which red flag laws the NRA actually supports, or if it supports any federal red flag bills that have been introduced.

“To safeguard the rights of law-abiding gun owners, Extreme Risk Protection Orders at a minimum must included strong due process protections, require treatment, and include penalties against those who make frivolous claims,” Ms Hunter said in an email.

Across the United States, the laws are widely supported, as are many forms of gun control that have been largely kept from becoming law at the federal and state level as a result of the vast influence of the NRA.

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That support comes from the likely suspects – Democrats – but also from Republicans, 70 per cent of whom said in a recent poll that they support allowing family members to seek gun restraining orders (support drops to 60 per cent among Republicans when asked if they support letting police seek out these orders).

And, with the recent shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, highlighting once again how these laws could avoid tragedy – the shooters had expressed violent plans previously – a renewed focus has been placed on them. Virtually all of the Democrats running for the 2020 nomination to take on Donald Trump have backed them.