Sponsors (20)
The bill tightens and clarifies federal firearm prohibitions tied to domestic-violence and protective orders—likely improving safety for many survivors and standardizing reporting—but it raises due-process and coverage-gap concerns and will impose administrative and funding burdens on governments and courts.
Survivors of domestic violence (especially women and children) would face lower risk of intimate-partner firearm violence because people subject to qualifying protective or domestic-violence orders would be barred from buying or possessing firearms while orders are in effect, including many ex parte orders.
Victims in dating relationships and similarly situated persons gain explicit federal recognition and clearer, consistent standards—helping states, tribes, and courts identify which orders trigger federal firearm prohibitions and reducing confusion in NICS reporting.
Clarifying and narrowing the statutory term for 'covered domestic violence court order' and related statutory language should streamline enforcement and prosecutions under federal firearm-disability law, making judicial determinations and DOJ actions more consistent.
People subject to temporary or ex parte protective orders could lose access to firearms before having a full hearing, raising significant due-process and Second Amendment concerns for those individuals.
Narrowing or redefining what counts as a 'covered' order could mean some survivors whose orders no longer qualify are left without federal firearm-disability protections, potentially allowing dangerous individuals to pass background checks.
State and local courts, tribal governments, DOJ, and law enforcement may face increased administrative burdens and legal uncertainty (e.g., making explicit findings, changing reporting practices, handling new challenges) to implement the statute and meet the new standards.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a federal covered-order definition that disqualifies people subject to qualifying domestic violence protective orders from possessing or receiving firearms, updates NICS references, and authorizes grants for firearm removal.
Official title: Amend title 18, United States Code, to protect more victims of domestic violence by preventing their abusers from possessing or receiving firearms, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 30, 2026 by Richard Blumenthal · Last progress July 30, 2026
Prohibits people who are subject to certain domestic violence protective orders from possessing or receiving firearms by creating a uniform federal definition of a “covered domestic violence court order,” expands the definition of “intimate partner” to include dating partners and similar state/tribal relationships, and updates federal gun-disqualification and reporting laws to use that definition. The bill also authorizes a grant program to support removal of firearms from people adjudicated in domestic violence matters and aligns NICS/NICS-waiver language with the new definition.