Legislative Document 1175, introduced by state Senator Mark Dion, is currently pending in the joint Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety. This bill would create three new protective orders and would allow for these protective orders to infringe upon your Second Amendment rights based on third party allegations and varying degrees of “evidence.” Upon issuance of one of these orders, the respondent is required to surrender all firearms and ammunition to local law enforcement, even though a majority of the orders – two of the three – are available through an ex parte hearing where the order is granted by a judge based on the brief statement of the petitioner. The accused would not be afforded the chance to appear in court to defend themselves against the allegations when the ERPO is issued. Once granted, the mandatory minimum period for a regular order is one year, and it may be renewed indefinitely.
Further, if an individual is truly dangerous, existing law already provides a variety of mechanisms to deal with the individual, all of which can lead to firearm prohibitions in appropriate cases. This bill would do nothing to require treatment of such dangerous persons or prevent them from injuring themselves or others.
Please contact members of the Legislative Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety and urge them to OPPOSE this bill! Click the “Take Action” button below to contact the committee members!
Stay tuned to www.nraila.org and your email inbox for further updates on this bill.