Domestic Violence Involving Firearms: The Infrequent Inclusion of Full Firearms Prohibitions Within Civil Protection Orders

Abstract

Firearms make domestic violence more dangerous. Civil protection orders (“CPOs”) can include firearms prohibitions to separate abusers from firearms. This study reviewed 90% of CPO cases (N = 3,451) filed in South Carolina in 2019. The study found that when courts had discretion whether to issue a firearms prohibition (here, under state law), courts tended not to do so (32% of all eligible cases). When law automatically applied a firearms prohibition to cases (here, under federal law), courts typically included them (85% of all eligible cases), but not always, as 15% of petitioners who were entitled to the federal remedy were left unprotected.