WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (CGTN) - U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the Department of Justice will give more than $231 million to states for crisis intervention projects, such as red-flag programs, in an effort to reduce gun violence.

Tuesday's announcement came on the five-year anniversary of the 2018 Parkland high school shooting in Florida, in which a gunman killed 17 people.

Biden said in a statement that extreme risk protection orders, or so-called red-flag laws, "could potentially have stopped shooters in Parkland and other tragedies."

Biden has long championed red-flag laws, which allow a judge to take away a firearm from someone based on the suspicion that the owner could use it to harm themselves or others.

The $231 million will go to 49 states, territories and Washington, D.C., to help them create and implement such programs as well as mental health and substance use treatment courts and veterans' treatment courts.

The funding comes by way of the bipartisan gun safety bill, which Biden signed into law in June. The bill allocated $750 million to help states administer red-flag laws and other intervention programs, and it includes funding for mental health treatment.