Require Prohibited People to Turn in Their Guns
Require Prohibited People to Turn in Their Guns
What is the problem?
Requiring people to turn in their guns when they become legally prohibited from having them helps keep guns out of the wrong hands. Under federal law, there is no affirmative requirement that people who are prohibited from having guns turn in firearms that they already have.
This makes it easy for felons, domestic abusers, and other people who would otherwise fail a background check to keep their guns. Ensuring that firearms do not remain in the hands of those who are legally prohibited from having them helps enforce our laws that prohibit people with dangerous histories from being armed.
Myth & Fact
Myth
Relinquishment laws are just an elaborate way for the government to confiscate guns.
Fact
Relinquishment laws simply enforce existing laws that prohibit certain categories of people with dangerous histories from having guns. If a person is subsequently allowed to have guns again—for example, because they are no longer under a prohibiting restraining order—they can get back the guns they turned in.
All Resources
Require Prohibited People to Turn in Their Guns
All Resources
Guns and Violence Against Women: America’s Uniquely Lethal Intimate Partner Violence Problem 10.17.2019
53 Every month, an average of 53 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner. “Uniform Crime Reporting Program:…
Report
Business As Usual
History of a Loophole Americans suffer from an extraordinary rate of gun violence, 20 times higher than nations with comparable levels of economic development…
Report
Domestic Abuse Protective Orders and Firearm Access in Rhode Island
Background: Limiting Abusers’ Access To Firearms Domestic abuse affects the lives of thousands of Rhode Islanders. According to the Rhode Island Judiciary Administration, police responded…
Report