SB 852

Current law prohibits the following persons from possessing a firearm: persons

who have been convicted of a felony; persons found not guilty of a felony by reason

of mental disease or defect; persons who are subject to certain injunctions such as a

domestic abuse or child abuse injunction or, in certain cases, a harassment or an

individuals-at-risk injunction; and persons who have been subject to involuntary

commitment for mental health treatment and ordered not to possess a firearm.

Under this bill, if a prosecutor has charged a person with illegal possession of a

firearm and the person has been convicted of, adjudicated delinquent for, or found

not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect of, committing, soliciting, conspiring,

or attempting to commit a violent felony, the prosecutor may not place the person in

a deferred prosecution program and the prosecutor may not dismiss or amend the

charge without the approval of the court. The court may approve the dismissal or

amendment only if the court finds the action is consistent with the public's interest

in deterring the possession of firearms by violent felons and with the legislature's

intention to vigorously prosecute violent felons who illegally possess a firearm. If the

court approves a dismissal or amendment, the court must submit an annual report

that year to the legislature detailing each such approval.