Democratic State Representative Brian King is working on a string of bills to keep guns out of the hands of domestic violence abusers. And he’s got support from gun right’s activists.
It’s already illegal to have a gun if you’re convicted of domestic violence or if allegations of abuse result in a protective order against you. Representative Brian King wants to pass a law to follow through with ensuring perpetrators actually dispose of their firearms or are prosecuted if they try to buck the system and buy a gun anyway. King says he’d also like to move domestic violence cases out of justice court and into district court.
“I think it’s a question of simply, a situation where we say, look we need to from the get go, evaluate and treat domestic violence with greater seriousness and again with greater resources,” King says.
He says he focused on domestic violence because an inordinate number of deaths and injuries that occur from guns arise out of domestic violence situations.
The proposals have the general backing of gun-rights supporters like Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council.
Republican State Representative Curt Oda says he supports the notion broadly. But he says he wants a guarantee that a person’s second amendment rights don’t get taken away in an unjustified manner.
“If it can be shown that that person did some serious physical injury, hey that’s fine. I’ve got no problem with taking away their rights," Oda says.
Representative King says he’ll be working over the next few months to study the issue before the 2017 legislative session.
