HB 1713 - Surrendering Firearms if convicted of family violence or subject to a protective order

[Papa_Tiger]

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Hi ... ill=HB1713

If you are subject to a protective order or convicted of family violence or a felony:

You must sell your firearms to an FFL, or surrender them to a law enforcement agency. Receipts of the disposition must be filed with the court.

You can get your firearms back from the LE agency if your conviction is vacated, dismissed, reversed on appeal or otherwise discharged and the LE agency determines that you are not prohibited from possessing a firearm according to state and federal law. Otherwise the LE agency will sell your guns and give you the proceeds (minus costs for sale and storage).

[oohrah]

Tell me why I shouldn't support this.

[Papa_Tiger]

Tell me why I shouldn't support this.

Forces the sale to an FFL or by the government. You do not have the option of giving/selling them to a friend, family member or relative.

[TomV]

I think the concern to allowing the sale to a friend, or relative is they could always give it back. Yes, that would make them guilty of a felony too (I think it would be a felony) but I'm not sure that matters.

[RoyGBiv]

Tell me why I shouldn't support this.

Because Judge-Shopping is a real thing. As is "Activist Judges". Even in TX.

Because if you're going to deprive me of my ENUMERATED RIGHT it better be a jury trial, like it says in the Constitution.

[longtooth]

Tell me why I shouldn't support this.

Because if they can get this passed they can decide:
If you are a preacher and suspected of hate speech because you read the Bible publicly then you must sell your firearms to an FFL or surrender them to a Law Enforcement Agency......

And then they can decide to fill in some blanks with your circumstance.

[Ruark]

Is "protective order" the same as a "restraining order"?

[TreyHouston]

Is "protective order" the same as a "restraining order"?

I think so. I was thinking the same thing! As a person in the middle of a divorce, we BOTH have standard TRO to “keep the peace”. It doesn’t mean that we are mean to each other in the current or past, its just standard stuff.

[TomV]

Is "protective order" the same as a "restraining order"?

A quick google search came up with a divorce lawyers website in Frisco that explains the difference. They are not the same thing.

[SewTexas]

no, they aren't the same. Protective order allows contact for trading kids for custodial visits and such but with some restrictions, and while not handed out like candy they are more generously given.

But, I don't like this bill....I think these orders can be misused.

[Scott Farkus]

How will the government know that you've surrendered all your firearms? How long before they ask us to register everything we own, just to be sure. We'll need to do it for universal background checks anyway.

I understand the sentiment behind the bill but yeah, there is a lot of potential for abuse here. A lot.

[srothstein]

I have the same problem with this bill that I have with the existing law in Penal Code Section 46.04. That section makes it illegal for a person to possess a firearm while the subject of a protective order, even if the order was issued ex parte. Ex parte means that the hearing was one-sided and only the person asking for the order was there to present evidence. The person who would be subject to the order does not even have to be told that the other person is asking for it.

Fortunately, courts have pretty much stopped granting the ex parte protective orders as part of the divorce filing that they used to do. Now they make it the restraining order which is not covered by this or 46.04. This is thanks to the federal law, which got it right. It is illegal (18 USC 922(d)(8) and (g)(8)) to possess a firearm if you are subject to a protective order that you were notified of and had the opportunity to appear at. The federal law can be taken to include a properly worded TRO also.

[WildBill]

I hope that HB 1713 never sees the light of day.

[Gator Guy]

[Skooter]

This is a rabbit hole we don't want to go down....