In previous attempts, the police say, complainants and family members hadn't cooperated.

PROVIDENCE — The Providence Police Department this week successfully invoked the state’s “red flag” law for the first time since its adoption in June 2018, according to Maj. David Lapatin.

The law, which allows police to petition a court for an order granting permission to confiscate firearms from individuals believed to be at imminent risk of killing themselves or others, was invoked 33 times by police across Rhode Island as of Oct. 31, 2019.

The petition approved Monday by a judge allows Providence police to hold onto an AR-15 rifle they seized from a man on Nov. 27, Lapatin said. The man will be entitled to a hearing within 14 days.

Police seized the weapon after the man, who had “emotional issues,” was taken to the hospital and members of his family called police, Lapatin said.

“Family members advised he had a gun,” Lapatin said. “They thought it best that he didn’t, and so did we.”

Police attempted to confiscate weapons using the red flag law “several” other times since the law’s adoption, Lapatin said, but in each instance didn’t have enough evidence for a judge to approve the order, known as an “extreme risk protection order.”

“In most of them, it’s cooperation that we’re missing from complainants and family members,” Lapatin said.

The department, though, has been taking weapons off the street through other methods.

Last year, the Police Department seized 115 guns in connection with crimes allegedly committed by the owners, including possession of a firearm without a license, carrying a firearm while committing a crime of violence, possession of a firearm along with a controlled substance and tampering with the serial number of a firearm. In 2018, the department seized 127 guns in connection with criminal charges.

Those firearms can be held and eventually destroyed, or are sometimes returned to the owner depending on the outcome of the court case, Lapatin said.

How to keep guns of out of the hands of potentially dangerous people is expected to be at the forefront of this year’s legislative session after two recent deadly shootings in Westerly and Pawtucket.

As for the red flag law, residents need to be educated on how it can help keep them safe, said P.J. Fox, executive director of the Nonviolence Institute, a community-based nonprofit. The institute and the Police Department share the goal of reducing gun violence and partner to ensure their respective resources are used effectively, Fox said.

“I think it's really a matter of education,” he said of the red flag law. “It’s these kinds of laws that, it takes a little while for people to remember and get used to them.”

— mlist@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @madeleine_list