For the last two decades, as mass shootings have become a terrifying, consistent reality of American life, Congress has presented little in the way of solutions. Instead, it has highlighted an intense divide on the issues of gun rights and mental health and what, exactly, is the root of the country’s crisis of mass violence. The mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, have stunned a nation that has become increasingly numb to these kinds of incidents. What has emerged from the other side of the nation’s grief is a slim bipartisan agreement. The cornerstone of that agreement are so-called Red Flag Laws, which promise to grant certain parties the ability to petition state courts to have someone’s firearms taken from them if there is substantial evidence that they serve as a threat to themselves or their community. Overwhelmingly, these laws are written and proposed to target people who are described as mentally ill.

But what are these laws? And how do they fit into the movement to stem mass violence? Read the blog to find out.