Under present law, a person who is subject to an order of protection as the respondent is required to dispossess the respondent's firearms by any lawful means, such as transferring possession to a third party who is not prohibited from possessing firearms, within 48 hours of the issuance of the order. The respondent is prohibited from possessing a firearm for so long as the order of protection or any successive order of protection is in effect, and may reassume possession of the dispossessed firearm at such time as the order expires or is otherwise no longer in effect. Present law specifies that a respondent may resume possession of their firearms once the order of protection and any subsequent order expire, unless the respondents is otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm. This bill changes present law by requiring that a respondent to a protective order dispossess the respondent's firearms to a law enforcement agency designated by the court within 48 hours of the issuance of the order. Upon dispossession of the respondent's firearms, a law enforcement agency will be required to provide the respondent with a receipt that the respondent will submit to the court along with the affidavit of firearms dispossession. This bill removes the present law provisions that specifies that a respondent may resume possession of their firearms once the order of protection and any subsequent order expire. Similarly, this bill requires that a person who pleads guilty to domestic assault must surrender their firearms to law enforcement and be provided a receipt instead of terminating possession of the firearms by any lawful means. This bill requires the administrative office of the courts to develop an affidavit of firearms dispossession form.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 36-3-625(a), 36-3-625, 39-13-111, 39-13-111(c), 40-14-109