SB 198 Summary

• Establishes gun violence protective orders allowing peace officers to petition courts to prohibit individuals deemed dangerous from possessing, owning, purchasing, or receiving firearms or ammunition for six months.

• Creates ex parte and emergency protective order procedures, with ex parte orders lasting 20 days and emergency orders lasting 72 hours, requiring courts to find clear and convincing evidence or preponderance of evidence of danger to self or others.

• Requires respondents to surrender all firearms and ammunition to law enforcement or sell to a firearms dealer within 24 hours of receiving an order, with law enforcement retaining the firearms until order expiration.

• Establishes a central registry of protective orders maintained by the Department of Public Safety and requires health care providers to annually report serious threats of gun violence to the Department of Health and Social Services.

• Grants district judges and magistrates authority to issue gun violence protective orders and increases penalties for violating protective orders to include misdemeanor charges punishable by up to one year incarceration and fines up to $10,000.