English
EspañolThe RO said the A has to surrender his gun but he didn't. Can he be arrested for that?
Have you contacted the police and informed them that the abuser is violating protective orders by possessing guns? Generally, if a person violates the terms of a protection order, it may be possible to have that person arrested and/or held in contempt of court (if a contempt/violation petition is filed), as you mentioned a judge has in this abuser’s case. You can read about reporting a violation and filing for contempt [HYPERLINK] on our website.
One difficulty that we sometimes see when the violation of a protection order involves guns is that there may be different law enforcement authorities that may handle the violation depending on how the protection order is written. If the judge includes a “no gun” provision as part of the order of protection, violating the order by having guns may be handled by the local police, in the same way that a violation of any provision of the order may be handled. However, if the order just includes information on the federal law, which prohibits firearms when there is a protection order, then it may be the federal law enforcement (ATF) that handles it. It can be much harder to get the ATF to act than the local police. You can read more about federal firearm laws and reporting a violation to ATF on our website. You can also read more about STATE’s gun laws [HYPERLINK] on our website.
Another issue you may encounter is how to prove to law enforcement or the judge that he is still in possession of the weapon. Generally, when the police discover evidence of a crime, such as a violation of a protective order, they may investigate the crime. However, the police generally are not generally required to investigate, especially if they believe that there is not enough “evidence” to warrant an investigation. If a person contacts the police about a violation, and the police refuse to investigate, the person may want to contact an attorney to figure out what other legal options are available. You can find free and paid attorneys in STATE [CHANGE “general” to state abbrev] on our website.
