SB 819

Under federal law, a person is prohibited from possessing a firearm if he or she

has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. Under state law,

a person who is prohibited from possessing a firearm under federal or state law also

may not purchase a firearm or be issued a license to carry a concealed weapon. State

law requires the Department of Justice, before approving a handgun purchase or

issuing a license, to conduct a background check to determine if the person is

prohibited from possessing a firearm. To determine if the person is prohibited under

federal law, DOJ must review court records of all of the person's criminal convictions

to identify if any conviction is for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. DOJ

must determine if the relationship between the offender and the victim qualifies as

a domestic relationship and if the offender engaged in violent conduct when

committing the crime. The bill reorganizes two statutes—the crime of disorderly

conduct and the definition of domestic abuse—so that DOJ is able to more easily

determine if a conviction qualifies as a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

First, under current law, a person is guilty of disorderly conduct if the person

engages in violent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud, or

otherwise disorderly conduct and if the conduct tends to cause or provoke a

disturbance. A person who has been convicted of disorderly conduct is prohibited

from possessing a firearm if the disorderly conduct was a misdemeanor crime of

domestic violence—that is, if the person engaged in violent conduct and if the

relationship between the person and the victim was domestic. The bill reorganizes

the disorderly conduct statute to separate “violent” conduct from the other types of

disorderly conduct so that the court record clearly indicates that the crime was a

violent crime.

Second, under current state law, “domestic abuse” is defined as certain actions

taken against a victim if the victim is related to the actor, has a child in common with

the actor, or currently resides or has resided with the actor. Unlike state law, federal

law does not define a crime as domestic violence if the only relationship is that the

victim currently resides or has resided with the actor. The bill reorganizes the

statute defining domestic abuse so that a court record would indicate the exact

nature of the relationship. Therefore, under the bill, the court record would indicate

when a person who is guilty under state law of a crime of domestic abuse is not guilty

under federal law of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.