This police department has filed more 'Red Flag' gun cases than any other city
Mankato's proactive 'red flag' gun law approach
Police in Mankato have filed for more Extreme Risk Protection Orders than any other department in Minnesota since the state’s red flag law went into effect, outpacing departments in larger cities like Minneapolis, Bloomington and Duluth.
MANKATO, Minn. (FOX 9) - Police in Mankato have filed more Extreme Risk Protection Orders than any other department in Minnesota since the state’s Red Flag law went into effect, outpacing departments in larger cities like Minneapolis, Bloomington and Duluth.
Red flag gun cases
By the numbers:
Since Minnesota’s "Red Flag" laws went into effect in 2024, the Mankato Department of Public Safety has applied for 25 Extreme Risk Protection Orders to prevent potentially dangerous individuals from possessing or obtaining a firearm.
This is how the city of approximately 50,000 compares to larger cities in Minnesota:
- Mankato (pop. 50,000) ERPO requests: 25
- Minneapolis (pop.-430,000) ERPO requests: 19
- St. Paul (pop. 307,000) ERPO requests: 14
- Duluth (pop. 88,000 ) ERPO requests: 6
- Bloomington (pop.88,000) ERPO requests: 5
"We took this tool, this law, and really put it into effect in order to protect people when they need it the most," said Mankato’s Public Safety Director Jeremy Clifton.
Mankato on ‘cutting edge’
The backstory:
The Mankato Office of Public Safety’s use of the Red Flag law stood out when the FOX 9 Investigators reviewed hundreds of Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO).
The law is intended to keep guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous individuals who have threatened to harm themselves or others. Law enforcement, prosecutors, as well as an individual household or family member can seek an Extreme Risk Protection Order, but it ultimately requires a court order.
A FOX 9 Investigators review of court records shows police departments across the state are utilizing the law much more often. The number of ERPO applications are on pace to more than double in 2025 — from 138 cases in 2024 to 263 cases through November 15 this year.
In Mankato, the Red Flag law has become an integral part of an officer’s training.
"We do it at our line level, which I think just puts us in a unique position compared to some other policing agencies across the state of Minnesota," said Clifton.
RELATED: Red Flag law petitions for guns on pace to double in 2025
Richard Hodsdon, a retired prosecutor who now trains law enforcement on the Red Flag law in Minnesota, says he is not surprised that Mankato is outpacing other departments across the state.
"It may just be because they have a more coordinated system down there," Hodsdon said. "Plus, Mankato has got a pretty highly educated, well-trained public safety department and they have for a really long time so it wouldn’t surprise me that they’re out there on the cutting edge."
Clifton explained that most cases his department sees involve individuals threatening to hurt themselves. His department has confiscated more than 60 firearms in the past two years.
"We need to look at that straight in its face, use the law in order to get them beyond that critical point in time where they are going to make an awful decision that they cannot come back from," Clifton added.
Red Flag law leads to one-year gun ban for suicidal man with domestic violence record
Why you should care:
One case illustrates Mankato’s Red Flag strategy.
In May 2024, they were called to the home of a 35-year-old man who was armed with a shotgun, severely intoxicated and said to be suicidal.
His former partner told police she had attempted to wrestle the firearm away from him when she got scared and left the house. He took off before officers arrived.
Police on scene observed the woman was scratched and bloodied. Court records indicate the man had previously broken the woman’s jaw and threatened to use a firearm against her in a prior domestic assault.
Police then filed for an Extreme Risk Protection Order against the man. A judge eventually signed off on a year-long emergency order prohibiting him from legally possessing or purchasing a firearm, finding he posed a significant danger to himself and others.
"It is about safety," said Clifton. "It is about the safety of our citizens, the loved ones around them, and the rest of your community. And we are not looking at long-term separation of guns here. We are looking at that short-term environment where people can get the help they need, the resources available to them so that they can be healthy in their own homes, in their own environments."
Mankato police returned to court after ‘Red Flag’ rejections
Dig deeper:
But two emergency petitions from Mankato Police were initially denied by a judge.
In one 2025 case reviewed by the FOX 9 Investigators, a Blue Earth County judge rejected a Mankato officer’s petition.
Court files indicate the man, who was struggling with his mental health, had made suicidal threats with a knife, telling his fiancé, he was in the process of purchasing a firearm. Police filed for an Extreme Risk Protection Order to prevent him from legally obtaining a firearm.
The judge, who denied the application, concluded in part, "There is no evidence that Respondent owns or attempted to possess a firearm."
The petition was later approved after police returned to court and the respondent agreed to a six-month ban.
Clifton says that case shows the law is working effectively with the court weighing evidence gathered by police before stripping an individual of their gun rights.
"There is not pride in the number," concluded Clifton. "The pride comes in the dedication that our police officers have to this environment, both to the Second Amendment and to the Extreme Risk Protection Order law. And that pride comes in how they have each sought out training and understanding on how we can deliver this law in the right way, in the fashion that protects everyone. That is where the pride is."