Advocates ask Lane County to promote Oregon’s Extreme Risk Protection Orders as suicide‑prevention tool
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Summary
Speakers from the Alliance for a Safe Oregon and public health partners urged the Lane County board to adopt a resolution or statement promoting awareness and training for Oregon’s Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO/IRPO) and to direct county public‑health materials to include IRPO information in multiple languages.
Speakers at the Oct. 20 Lane County commissioners meeting urged the board to boost public awareness and training around Oregon’s Extreme Risk Protection Order (known in testimony as IRPO or ERPO) as a suicide‑prevention and public‑safety tool.
What advocates said: Diane Peterson of the Alliance for a Safe Oregon told commissioners that Oregon’s ERPO law (2018) allows family members, household members or law enforcement to ask courts to temporarily remove firearms when someone is at imminent risk of harm. Peterson cited an OHSU study that found a majority of petitions cite suicide risk and that courts grant most petitions. She asked the board to adopt a resolution or public statement supporting IRPO awareness and to direct public‑health and behavioral‑health departments to include IRPO information in multiple languages on crisis materials and websites.
Supporting testimony: Steve Schneider, who identified himself as a firearm suicide‑prevention program director with the Alliance for a Safe Oregon and a lifelong gun owner, described IRPOs as a constitutional tool to temporarily remove access to firearms in crises and asked the board to direct public‑health outreach. Schneider said it is estimated that about one life is saved for every 15 IRPOs served and urged the county to include IRPO information in suicide‑prevention resources.
Board response and next steps: Commissioners asked staff to consider the request and indicated support for more information. Several commissioners suggested that the public‑health and behavioral‑health departments could include IRPO materials in outreach; staff indicated they had already received toolkits by email from advocates. The board did not adopt a resolution at the meeting but asked staff to return with actionable options.
Ending: Advocates provided a toolkit and said they were working on training with state partners; they requested county endorsement and direct inclusion of IRPO information in county suicide‑prevention materials and outreach.