First Monday and Every Monday
June 26 , 2006

This week IPGV will release a new report, “Arming Domestic Abusers: The Failure of Iowa Courts to Uphold Federal Law That Prohibits Possession of Firearms to Domestic Abusers.” The report reveals the categorical failure of Iowa courts to protect victims of domestic abuse by removing guns from abusers when a qualifying protective order is put in place.  IPGV will be holding press conferences on this crucial report across the state of Iowa this Wednesday and Thursday.  All friends and members are invited to attend.  Following is a press conference schedule and the executive summary of our report. 

Press Conference Schedule:

Des Moines: 10am Wednesday, June 28, Office of Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Cedar Rapids: 2pm Wednesday, June 28, Linn County Courthouse Stairs

Council Bluffs: 2pm Wednesday, June 28, Pottawattamie County Courthouse Stairs

Davenport:  10am Thursday, June 29, Davenport Public Library, 321 N. Main Street

Sioux City:  10am Thursday June 29, Woodbury County Courthouse Lobby

Executive Summary:

Iowa district courts are failing to enforce federal law that prohibits a person who is subject to a court restraining order for domestic violence from possessing firearms. Of approximately 2,500 qualifying protective orders issued in 2005, an estimated 1,800 protective orders failed to prohibit the defendant from possessing firearms and to require the defendant to surrender his/her firearms to a designated law enforcement agency. It is estimated that about 1,000 of the defendants named in these protective orders possessed firearms at the time the protective order was issued.

Domestic abusers use firearms to intimidate, threaten, injure, and kill their partners. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) for 2001 estimated that about 700,000 violent crimes were committed against persons by an intimate partner.

Nationwide, there are approximately 1,600 intimate partner homicides each year. About 75% of the victims are women. A firearm is used in about two-thirds of intimate partner homicides. About 12 domestic homicides occur in Iowa each year.

In Iowa, a person may seek relief from domestic abuse by asking a court to issue a protective order. The protective order restrains the alleged abuser from committing further acts of abuse or threats of abuse. Iowa district court judges issue approximately 2,500 permanent protective orders in domestic abuse cases each year.

Since 1994, federal law prohibits a person who is subject to a qualifying court restraining order for domestic violence from possessing firearms or ammunition. A qualifying protective order is one that:

• Is issued following a hearing at which the person received notice and had the opportunity to participate.

• Restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of the person or the child of an intimate partner or the person; or engaging in conduct that would place an intimate partner or child in reasonable fear of bodily injury.

• Includes a finding that the person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of an intimate partner or child; or prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against an intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury.

Intimate partner is defined as (a) a spouse of the person, (b) a former spouse of the person, (c) an individual who is the parent of a child of the person, or (d) an individual who cohabitates or has cohabited with the person.

Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence (IPGV) conducted a study to determine whether Iowa district court judges are enforcing federal firearms law on domestic abuse protective orders. That is, do the protective orders issued by district court judges prohibit the defendant from possessing firearms?

For the study, IPGV examined protective orders issued in 2005 in each of Iowa’s eight judicial districts. The sample included about one-half of all qualifying protective orders issued in 2005 and protective orders issued by about three-fourths of current district court judges.

The study revealed that only about one in four qualifying protective orders issued by Iowa district courts in 2005 prohibited the defendant from possessing firearms. The breakdown by judicial district (percent of protective orders that included the federal firearms prohibition in the order) is summarized below.

Based on the results of the study, it is estimated that about 1,800 (72%) of the approximately 2,500 qualifying protective orders issued by Iowa district courts in 2005 failed to include the federal firearms prohibition. Taking into account gun ownership rates in Iowa, it is estimated that about 1,000 of these protective orders involved defendants who possessed firearms.

Compliance with the federal law was strongly dependent on the individual district court judge that issued the order. Some judges routinely prohibited the defendant from possessing firearms on all or most of their orders. Other judges seldom or never prohibited the defendant from possessing firearms. The study found that about 25 percent of the judges were responsible for about 75 percent of the protective orders that prohibited the defendant from possessing firearms.

The federal law was enacted by Congress to promote public safety and prevent death and injury in domestic abuse cases. Removal of firearms from persons subject to a court restraining order for domestic violence is not discretionary. It’s the law.

Iowa district court judges are bound by their oath of office to “administer justice according to law.” Judges do not have the authority to abrogate federal law that prohibits persons subject to a court restraining order for domestic violence from possessing firearms.

IPGV recommends the following to increase compliance with federal law on domestic abuse protective orders.

1. The Iowa District Court should (a) educate judges on the applicability of federal firearms laws to domestic abuse protective orders and (b) develop judicial practices to ensure that federal firearms laws are properly enforced on domestic abuse protective orders.

2. The Iowa Legislature should enact legislation that would codify the federal law into state law. This action would remove all doubt that domestic abuse protective orders should prohibit the defendant from possessing firearms.