FRANKFORT — Kentucky sheriffs would have to collect the guns of people with domestic violence orders against them under a bill filed this week in the General Assembly.
The measure, which faces opposition from gun-ownership proponents, is another in a growing number of proposals to strengthen Kentucky's domestic violence laws after the shooting death of state worker Amanda Ross last year, allegedly by former state Rep. Steve Nunn.
House Bill 205 also creates a state law that allows judges to prohibit possession of firearms by the accused while a domestic violence order is in effect. There already is a federal law that prohibits someone who has a protective order against them from having a weapon, but that law doesn't require courts or law enforcement to confiscate a gun or other weapon.
The bill also allows those under domestic violence orders to transfer firearms to another person prior to the order being issued.
Democratic Rep. Joni Jenkins of Shively, the bill's sponsor, said Louisville already has a system that requires those with domestic violence orders to turn over their guns.
"We can do it now without this legislation," Jenkins said, but only a few jurisdictions actively collect the guns of those with domestic violence orders.
Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, and chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said there have been so many domestic-violence related bills filed this session that he's still trying to determine what bills will be heard. It's possible that some of the bills will be combined, he and Jenkins said.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, who is also a former attorney general, said he has some concerns about the bill because taking away a gun may violate someone's Second Amendment right to bear arms.
"I've never seen evidence that shows that it is a deterrent," Stumbo said of requiring those with DVOs to turn over their guns. He is pushing a bill that would allow judges to order global positioning devices to track those accused in the most serious domestic violence cases.
Although Kentucky now has no state law regarding the possession of weapons by a person who has a domestic violence order against them, judges often address the issue specifically if an allegation includes information about weapons. In Nunn's case, Fayette Family Court Judge Tim Philpot specifically said Nunn could not have a gun.
Ross had gone to the courts to get first a protective order and then later a domestic violence order filed against Nunn, who has pleaded not guilty to the Sept. 11 shooting of Ross.
Other proposed bills now under consideration would allow dating couples to get domestic violence orders, require counseling for people convicted of domestic violence and make the act of strangulation a felony.
