Committee advances ordinance requiring officers to file Gun Violence Restraining Orders within three days

Vice Chair Katherine Stephany brought forward an ordinance on March 25 to expand San Francisco’s Gun Violence Restraining Order (GVRO) program and align local code with recent state changes. The ordinance requires peace officers to serve and file temporary GVROs with the court no later than three days after issuance and allows the city to treat qualifying out‑of‑state GVROs as if issued locally.

Stefani said the changes are intended to strengthen a civil tool that can prevent individuals at imminent risk from accessing firearms. “We need to use every tool we possibly can to combat gun violence,” she said, describing GVROs as a prevention measure that can be used when family members or law enforcement identify credible threats.

Commander Raj Viswani of the San Francisco Police Department’s investigations division explained how the department implements the GVRO process, citing training materials, coordination with the city attorney’s office and examples where GVROs and subsequent search warrants led to firearm seizures. Sergeant Patrick Fay described a case in which officers identified a firearm nexus after repeated neighbor complaints and obtained a GVRO followed by a search warrant and seizure.

Public commenters from Brady United Against Gun Violence voiced support for the ordinance and thanked SFPD staff. The committee approved a small, non‑substantive amendment to add language requiring coordination with the City Attorney’s Office and then voted to recommend the ordinance, as amended, to the full Board of Supervisors.

The ordinance advances to the Board of Supervisors with a positive committee recommendation.