The committee’s recently released report recommends a law that would prohibit gun possession by those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence and those accused of the offense and under a temporary restraining order.
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Hollie Ayers is pushing for a Pennsylvania law that would require people to turn over their guns when judges issue protection orders against them.
MI relies on federal law which also requires courts to notify domestic abusers when they become prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition, requires the surrender of firearms or ammunition by domestic abusers to law enforcement when prohibited under federal law, and requires law enforcement to remove firearms at the scene of a domestic violence incident. Only five other states reported more deaths, all significantly larger in population.
Utah legislators quietly changed a state law a year ago to keep in an attempt to keep firearms out of the hands of unsafe domestic abusers, following a nationwide trend of state legislative action on a rare area of consensus in the polarized debate over guns.
230 people in SC died in gun-related domestic violence homicides.
MI is not among the states listed as strengthening its laws. But on Thursday, a federal appeals court ordered a judge to reconsider her decision upholding the assault weapons ban and the 10-round limit on gun magazines.
One provision common among those new laws – requiring many defendants under domestic violence protective orders to surrender firearms – is similar to one North Carolina enacted in 2003.
The number of cases is similar to the 20 per year that legislative analysts had predicted, even though two of the state’s most populous counties (Linn and Johnson) haven’t had any. In 2014, Iowa courts issued 2,700 protective orders for domestic abuse.
“We’ve passed them in blue states, red states and purple states”, said gun-control advocate John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “We believe they are absolutely lifesaving”.
Federal Bureau of Investigation records show that IN reported more than 140 domestic violence-related fatal shootings from 2006 through 2014, although the number is likely higher because some of the state’s law enforcement agencies didn’t report such data.
Studies by public health researchers have generally concluded that such laws, when properly implemented, can reduce deaths.
Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence executive director Laura Berry says lawmakers could take several steps to restrict Hoosiers with a history of domestic violence from possessing guns.
Gun rights advocates say some of the laws are applied too broadly. The weapons eventually would be returned in most cases.
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“There are many bills”, Shirley said.
