The enactment of a specific domestic violence charge allowed the names to be entered into a federal database that prohibits people convicted of such charges from purchasing or possessing a firearm. But Michigan has no legal mechanism to ensure those who are barred from owning guns in domestic abuse cases under federal or state law actually don’t have them, said Michigan State University law professor April Zeoli. LePage supported the concept of the new restrictions but argued that the ban wasn’t lengthy enough.
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Texas had 10 times more gun-related domestic homicides than Arkansas, but Texas has nine times more people than Arkansas, so the homicide number isn’t as disproportionate as it may seem.
The bill would require courts to order people convicted of a domestic related crime punishable as a misdemeanor to transfer all firearms in his or her possession to a federally licensed firearms dealer.
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. “It’s still a problem we feel people need to consider”. For example, she said, federal law could have a much narrower definition of victims or different rules for how guns are confiscated than a state law. That figure is an undercount because not all departments report such information, and it doesn’t include children and other bystanders who were killed.
About 15 states allow or require the court issuing a protective order to require abusers to turn in their guns.
“We’ve got a caucus in the Legislature that’s going to fiercely defend the Second Amendment”, Richardson said. Critics say the federal law is too weak because it does not apply to dating relationships, does not ban guns during temporary protective orders, and does not establish procedures for abusers to surrender firearms.
“There’s no accountability, and if the person is already a gun owner, there’s just no process for enforcing the law”, Oransky said.
Studies by public health researchers have generally concluded that such laws, when properly implemented, can reduce deaths. Some of these measures have been passed alongside larger laws expanding gun rights. Advocates fighting domestic violence want to know how often a judge rules to take away guns, but is struggling to collect data, said Sara Barber, executive director of the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.
SC and Wisconsin are two of the states dominated by Republicans and with strong traditions of gun ownership that have taken steps to restrict abusers’ access to guns. “If we put more guns in homes where domestic violence is occurring, we’ll see more deaths”. “They don’t have the authority to tell local police what to do about anything whether it’s a traffic accident or domestic violence”.
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“There are many bills”, Shirley said.
