Calling on the Pennsylvania State Legislature to pass a law requiring convicted domestic violence abusers to immediately relinquish all firearms within their possession to law enforcement.

WHEREAS, Under the current law, convicted domestic violence abusers in Pennsylvania have as long as two months to surrender their firearms following a conviction; and

WHEREAS, There is a strong correlation between domestic violence related deaths and firearms. National and state research indicates that domestic violence victims are far more likely to be murdered if their abuser has access to a firearm; and

WHEREAS, Domestic violence abuse claims approximately 2,000 lives per year nationwide. Of these deaths, more than half are committed with a firearm. Victims who are threatened with a gun or other weapon are twenty times more likely to be murdered than their counterparts. Victims who are threatened with murder are fifteen times more likely to be murdered than their counterparts. Victims who are in abusive situations where a firearm is present in the home are six times more likely to be murdered by their abuser than victims who do not have a firearm present in the home; and

WHEREAS, According to research conducted by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 57 of the 102 domestic violence abuse victims who were murdered in 2016 were killed by guns. Between 2007 and 2016, approximately 600 of the 1,100 domestic violence abuse victims murdered were shot to death; and

WHEREAS, State Senator Thomas Killion introduced Senate Bill 501 in January 2017, which would require convicted domestic violence abusers to surrender their firearms to law enforcement 24 hours after a conviction. However, the bill has been stuck in the Judiciary Committee since March 2017; and

WHEREAS, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has allowed convicted domestic violence abusers to maintain possession of firearms for as long as two months after a conviction. However, it is apparent that this long of a waiting period can have fatal consequences for domestic violence abuse victims who are living in constant fear for their lives. As such, it is incumbent upon the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to pass legislation that will require convicted domestic violence abusers to surrender all firearms in their possession immediately following a conviction; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby calls on the Pennsylvania State Legislature to pass a law requiring convicted domestic violence abusers to immediately relinquish all firearms within their possession to law enforcement.

End