Domestic violence, gun-control groups divided over gun bill

More than a dozen states have passed laws in recent years similar to the one proposed by Campos, mostly with bipartisan support, though opponents and some gun rights advocates say the state laws are repetitive of federal law and not needed.

The bill would require courts to order a person convicted of a crime of violence that is a “domestically related crime” to transfer his or her guns to a federally licensed firearms dealer. But a handful of state judges have been including gun bans as part of the emergency protective orders they issue in domestic violence situations.

Utah legislators quietly changed a state law previous year in an attempt to keep firearms out of the hands of unsafe domestic abusers.

An analysis of Federal Bureau of Investigation data by The Associated Press shows an estimated 184 people in MI were victims of domestic gun homicide from 2006 to 2014.

Similar proposals are expected to be debated in several states this year. The measures match or exceed the federal prohibitions on the books for decades.

Supporters of gun rights, including the National Rifle Association, object to some of the details.

In 2009, Maryland enacted a law requiring a judge to order firearms to be confiscated from people who have final protective orders filed against them for as long as the order is in effect. That information turns up when licensed dealers conduct background checks and has resulted in more than 120,000 applicants being denied since 1998 for having misdemeanor domestic violence convictions. Today, more than 71 percent are from guns. Within weeks, the General Assembly amended state law so that recording wasn’t required.

Vilos said the focus shouldn’t be on laws but on establishing a culture where domestic violence victims are taught how to protect themselves, Vilos said.

“We’re seeing our politicians, our state leaders, are coming around to this, too”.

Vilos said threatened women should be given a gun and a free certificate to a gun safety course and told to keep the weapon with them at all times.

“It encompasses everybody who has a one-time blip in their life, and all of a sudden their gun rights are taken away forever”, said Wes Dunbar, an Iowa lawyer who has represented defendants upset over losing their ability to hunt. But she said the state could do more. “They can fix this bill”, Oransky said. The NRA stayed neutral after negotiating language that allows individuals to seek the return of their weapons once restraining orders are lifted.