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Committee adopts amendment tightening law-enforcement procedures for gun buyback programs, then votes favorably on Senate Bill 444
Summary
The committee adopted an amendment requiring law enforcement to check whether firearms turned in at buybacks were linked to crimes or reported lost or stolen and to return guns to owners if recovered; the committee then voted to give the bill a favorable report.
The House Judiciary Committee on April 2 adopted an amendment to Senate Bill 444 that directs law-enforcement agencies running gun buyback programs to make reasonable efforts, including, when necessary, conducting an investigation, to determine whether a surrendered firearm was involved in a crime or previously reported lost or stolen. If a gun is found to have been reported lost or stolen, the agency must take steps to return it to the lawful owner.
The amendment (403,023) narrowed the entities authorized to operate buybacks to law-enforcement agencies and federally licensed firearm businesses (FFLs) for purposes of certain provisions, which the chair described as addressing concerns raised by opponents. After the amendment was adopted, the committee considered the bill as amended and voted to give it a favorable report.
Delegates raised questions about whether the bill, as drafted, could inadvertently criminalize participants at certain "sensitive places" and whether participation in a police-run buyback could cause a participant to violate a separate possession statute (cited in the hearing as "4,203"). The chair said the amendment made it less likely buybacks would be held at sensitive-location sites and noted buybacks are generally coordinated with police departments.
The committee adopted the amendment without recorded objection and then took a roll-call vote on the bill as amended. The committee chair called the roll; a number of delegates voted yes and a few no. The committee adopted the favorable motion and advanced the bill out of committee.
Direct quote from the hearing: "The amendments adopted ... require that the law enforcement agency that receives a firearm from a gun buyback program shall make reasonable efforts including ... an investigation ... to see if the gun was involved in a crime or was reported lost or stolen," the chair said (committee transcript).
