New firearms-seizure working group to review DPS-332c form, meet monthly

Shauna Harrington, director of legal advocacy, gave the firearms seizure and compliance working-group update and said the subgroup held two initial meetings (Feb. 6 and Feb. 18) and will meet monthly going forward. "At our first meeting, we identified a few priority areas, including reviewing the firearm ammunition and compliance statement, which is the DPS-332c form," Harrington said.

Harrington said the group discussed whether the DPS-332c language in the model policy should be mandatory rather than advisory and noted a legal concern: "there's really no incentive for folks to fill this form out, and it could also present Fifth Amendment self-incrimination issues." The group also flagged operational concerns about distinguishing illegal from legal firearms and agreed to compare current written compliance procedures provided by the Special Licensing and Firearms Unit with a proposed 'gold' procedure.

Next steps: Harrington said the working group plans to review the Special Licensing and Firearms Unit's written procedure, compare it to the group's recommended approach, and examine Conn. Gen. Stat. 46b-38b subsection a for potential statutory clarifications. The group set its next meeting for Wednesday, March 18, 1-2 p.m., and discussed the aim of producing a recommendation to a subcommittee by the summer.

Why it matters: Seizure and compliance procedures affect victim safety, evidence preservation and the ability of courts and law enforcement to enforce relinquishment orders and risk protection measures. The panel will develop implementation-level recommendations after comparing current practice to the proposed model.