SB 605

Under current law, a person is prohibited from possessing a firearm and must

surrender any firearm he or she possesses if he or she is subject to a domestic abuse

injunction, a child abuse injunction, or, if the court determines that he or she may

use a firearm to harm another or endanger public safety, a harassment injunction

(injunction). A person who is subject to an injunction (respondent) must surrender

his or her firearm to a sheriff or to a third party approved by the court and is guilty

of a Class G felony if convicted of possessing a firearm while subject to the injunction.

This bill creates a procedure for notifying a person, when the person is served with

a petition for an injunction hearing, of the prohibition against possessing a firearm

and of the requirement to surrender any firearm.

The bill also creates a procedure for surrendering firearms after the court

grants an injunction. If the respondent is present at the injunction hearing, he or

she must provide the court with a completed firearm possession form, which requests

information such as whether the respondent possesses, or has possessed in the

previous six months, any firearm and, if so, the quantity and the make and model

of the firearm. If the respondent is not present at the injunction hearing, the court

must provide the petitioner the opportunity to inform the court, orally or in writing,

whether he or she believes that the respondent possesses a firearm. If the court is

satisfied that the respondent does not possess a firearm, the court must file the

firearm possession form. If the firearm possession form or the petitioner indicates

that the respondent possesses a firearm, or if the court is not satisfied that the

respondent does not possess a firearm, the court must schedule a hearing to

surrender firearms to occur with one week of the injunction hearing. The court must

dismiss the hearing if the respondent surrenders his or her firearms to a sheriff

within 48 hours or, if the respondent appeared at the injunction hearing and the

court approves of the surrender, to another person who also appeared at the

injunction hearing, who testifies under oath that the person received all of the

firearms on the firearm possession form, who is not prohibited by law from

possessing a firearm, and who is informed of the penalties for furnishing a firearm

to a person who is prohibited by law from possessing a firearm (qualified person).

If the court does not dismiss the hearing to surrender firearms, the respondent

must attend the hearing. A respondent who fails is in contempt of court and the court

must issue an arrest warrant. At the hearing to surrender firearms the court must

verify all of the information on the firearm possession form and either permit the

surrender to a qualified person or order the respondent to surrender his or her

firearms to the sheriff within 48 hours. A respondent who fails to comply with an

order to surrender his or her firearms to a sheriff is in contempt of court and the court

must issue an arrest warrant.