SPONSOR: Hicks
COMMITTEE ACTION: Voted "Do Pass with HCS" by the Standing Committee on General Laws by a vote of 15 to 0.
The following is a summary of the House Committee Substitute for HB 473.
This bill allows any court that issues a full order of protection after a hearing, to also prohibit the respondent from possessing or purchasing firearms while the order is in effect, inform the respondent of the order either orally or in writing, and forward the order to the State Highway Patrol for enforcement as specified in the bill.
The bill requires notification of the State Highway Patrol so that the National Instant Criminal Background Check System can be updated and the FBI notified when there is a conviction of domestic assault in the fourth degree or stalking in the second degree.
The bill also makes it a class D felony for a person convicted of misdemeanor offenses of domestic violence or subject to an order of protection to possess a firearm.
The bill has an emergency clause.
This bill is similar to HB 2724 (2020).
The following is a summary of the public testimony from the committee hearing. The testimony was based on the introduced version of the bill.
PROPONENTS: Supporters say that this bill protects victims of domestic violence, but does not restrict gun rights. Because domestic violence often occurs by repeat offenders in a pattern, this bill prevents those offenders from access to additional means to commit their offenses. Without ready access to lethal force, victims are protected from escalating violence.
Testifying for the bill were Representative Hicks; Andrea Bauman; Billie Westervelt; Catey Terry; Catherine Gilbert; Cathy Primm; Christine M. Novalis; Cynthia Tay; Elizabeth C. Williams; Erin Schaeffer; Gail Wechsler; Garry P. Reams, M.D.; Heather Harper Yates; Jaime Thompson; Janice Mericle; Jean C. Knapp; Jeanne Cormier; Jeanne Mihail; Jeffrey Leipholtz; Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence; Jennifer Howard; Joanne Haglof; Josia Leipholtz; Karen Rogers; Kent Stalder; L. C. Van Fossen-Murray; Margie Sable; Maria Lindbergh; Mary Reams; Mary Waggener; Nancy Ames; Philip C. Knocke; Polly Blair; Rachel Rilinger; Randee Steffen; Rebecca Morgan; Rebecca Shaw; Rhonda Torno; Sarah Whitney; Suzanne Jackson; Sylvia J. Swift Smith; Tara Reuter Johnson; Amy Bearce; Amy Blansit; Aurore Hockman; Bety Le Shackelford; Deborah C. Bowers; Ida Fogle; Jemile Dragovic; Julie Holland; Kay Nielson; Mandy Martin; Mary Schuman; Peggy Berger; Rike Reuter-Hart; Stephenie Godfroy; Tara Bennett; Brenda Kosark; Debra Powell; Kristin Bowen; Leslie Anne Washington; Lloyd Klinedinst; Lori Green; Rebecca Watson; Samuel Cohen; Tiffany Marler; Mandy Sybrandy; Sam Panettiere, City of Kansas City, Missouri; Emily Stoinski; Irina Lipkina-Kler; Judith L. Kile; Kendall MartÃnez-Wright; Mark Habbas, Missouri State Council of Fire Fighters.
OPPONENTS: Geri Tyrey; Steven Don Ackman; Ana Moreno; Claire Heil; Arnie C. Dienoff; Stephanie Hohman; Catherine Bradford; and Debbie Reffitt provided oppositional written testimony.
OTHERS: Mark Johnson provided informational written testimony.
Written testimony has been submitted for this bill. The full written testimony can be found under Testimony on the bill page on the House website.
Statutes affected: