Lawmakers, victim advocates, call again for bill to confiscate guns from domestic abusers

Supporters of a bill requiring individuals convicted of domestic violence to surrender their firearms to law enforcement, a measure that failed in a House committee last year, are trying again on the Senate side.

The bill, presented Wednesday in the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee would require domestic violence offenders to hand over any firearms and concealed carry permits within 24 hours of conviction. If an individual did not, law enforcement would be sent to their home to confiscate the firearms.

Kansas law already bans domestic violence offenders and those with protection orders against them from having firearms. But the law, passed in 2018, has no real enforcement mechanism. If police believe that a domestic abuser is armed, they can only confiscate weapons with a court order or a warrant.

Survivors of domestic violence and advocates for their safety urged lawmakers to consider passing the legislation this time, arguing that it would provide immediate and long-term protection.

“(This bill) provides a really unique opportunity that we don’t often see in legislation to enact a law that would directly affect survivors in a sense that it could immediately save lives,” said Lindsie Ford, an attorney for the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence during committee testimony.

“Removing firearms from someone who has been adjudicated to be a threat to members of their family, to their spouse, to their children, removes a danger of long-term potentially lethality.”

But the bill met with much the same opposition from law enforcement representatives that it received last year. They said confiscation could place an officer on shaky legal ground and possibly in harm’s way.

“If they don’t show up within that 24 hours to relinquish their weapon, they’re not voluntarily doing it at that point,” said Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easer during committee testimony. “And so, at that point, law enforcement will go out, but because we have a relinquishment order — we don’t have a search warrant — and because we’re talking about search and seizure, at that point, (a relinquishment order) does not allow us to go into that house if that person says, ‘You’re not coming into my house.’”

Opponents also said requiring police departments to hold an individual’s firearm would add an additional burden to law enforcement, which is already responsible for storing firearms that are confiscated as evidence in crimes.

It would also be be costly for law enforcement officers to maintain the weapons in the same condition they were received, something required of them under law, said Ed Klumpp a lobbyist for the Kansas Chiefs of Police Association and Kansas Peace Officers Association.

Sen. Cindy Holscher, an Overland Park Democrat who is a co-sponsor of the bill, said she wanted to work with members of law enforcement to put together a bill that everyone could agree on.

“We need to get the conversation started because for over three years we have had some form of this type of bill in the House as well as the Senate and we’ve not been able to get a hearing,” Holscher said. “So the conversation needs to be started so hopefully we can get people to the table to come up with some solutions, because this is a problem that needs to be addressed.”

“With what we know there are known individuals out there that are in high risk situations. We need to address these situations and come up with solutions before more people get hurt.”