State lawmakers plan to reintroduce a bill next session that would require police to temporarily seize firearms visibly present when they respond to a domestic incident.
Victims of domestic abuse are 400% to 500% more likely to be killed at the hands of their abuser when they have access to a firearm, according to the National Institute of Health.
The Safe Homes Act of 2020 gives police in the state the option to temporarily take custody of visible firearms, or those found through a consensual, legal search, when they respond to a domestic dispute.
“Some police departments do it, some police departments don’t, and we need to have uniform safety,” state Sen. Pete Harckham told Spectrum News 1.
Harckham, a Democrat from Westchester County, sponsors legislation that would mandate all police temporarily confiscate weapons that are out in the open during a domestic call.
It does not apply to weapons that are safely stored away or out of sight, …