| In California, domestic violence laws apply to intimate partners. Intimate partners within
the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are civilly
united or formerly civilly united, living together or formerly
living together, have children together and are or used to
be dating. When the police are dispatched to a domestic abuse
call, they are usually under obligation to temporarily remove
any firearms or other deadly weapons from the home or from
the scene. When a suspect is arrested for committing battery,
sexual battery, intentional infliction of injury, criminal
threats, intimidation, for violating a protective order, or
for stalking his or her intimate partner, the obligation applies.
In addition, if the accuser obtains a restraining order against
the accused, the accused cannot own, possess, purchase, receive
or attempt to purchase or receive a firearm while the order
is in effect. In fact, possession of a firearm under these
circumstances is a crime in and of itself, punishable as a
federal offense.
Following an intimate partner abuse arrest,
if the police do not take the firearms from the arrested individual’s
home, he or she must voluntarily surrender all firearms within
24 hours of being served with a restraining order. This means
that the individual must either sell them to a licensed gun
dealer or leave them with local law enforcement officials
(who will likely charge storage fees). In addition, the accused
will be required to file a receipt with the court showing
that his or her firearms were surrendered to a local law enforcement
agency or sold to a licensed gun dealer within 72 hours after
receiving the order. An individual who ignores this mandate
or who illegally disposes of the firearms will face additional
criminal charges.
If owning a firearm is necessary as part
of the defendant’s job and his or her employer is unable
to temporarily assign the individual to another position,
there is a possibility (although generally unlikely) that
the court may modify the restriction to allow the defendant
to carry his or her firearm at work. Without that modification,
an accused may lose his or her job. Contacting an experienced
attorney as soon as possible after an arrest allows a defendant
a much better chance of favorably resolving these types of
issues.
In addition to denying one’s Constitutional
right to bear arms, the confiscation of one’s firearms
draws the implication that, in an intimate partner violence situation, the accused is actually considered guilty until
proven innocent – the complete opposite of the very
foundation on which our criminal justice system was built!
This is just one of the many reasons why it is imperative
that a defendant hire a qualified criminal defense lawyer immediately after being arrested on a California D.V. charge.
After the defendant’s firearms have
been seized or surrendered, it may be possible to get them
back if he or she is subsequently found innocent of the charges
or if any protective orders have been removed. The defendant’s
attorney can help file an application with the Department
of Justice to retrieve the firearms as quickly as possible.
It should be noted that knowingly omitting required information
or furnishing false information in connection with the application
is a separate crime, punishable as a misdemeanor.
There is no reason
to go at it alone! The experienced GLBT friendly attorneys
at the Kavinoky Law Firm specialize in California crimes of
domestic violence and have helped countless individuals successfully
defend against these types of allegations as well as the additional
restrictions that usually accompany these charges. Contact them today for a free consultation. |
