Civil Rights

Report: Despite mandatory Rhode Island law, family court only orders firearm surrender from domestic abusers one-third of the time

“Guns and domestic abuse are a deadly combination and we’ve seen firsthand how the Family Court can make a difference in dangerous situations,” said Melissa Power, a volunteer with the Rhode Island chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “Our judges have the power to save lives and we urge the Rhode Island Family Court to heed

Rhode Island News: Report: Despite mandatory Rhode Island law, family court only orders firearm surrender from domestic abusers one-third of the time

November 4, 2019, 3:20 pm

By Uprise RI Staff

“Guns and domestic abuse are a deadly combination and we’ve seen firsthand how the Family Court can make a difference in dangerous situations,” said Melissa Power, a volunteer with the Rhode Island chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “Our judges have the power to save lives and we urge the Rhode Island Family Court to heed the findings and recommendations in this report and continue to improve.”


Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, today released a new report, “Domestic Violence and Firearm Surrender in Rhode Island.” The report compiles findings based on a court monitoring program, the first of its kind for the organization, conducted by volunteers with the Rhode Island chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

The report evaluates the implementation of the Protect Rhode Island Families Act, a law passed in 2017 to disarm prohibited domestic abusers, and offers recommendations for improvement. Toplines from the report:

  • The Protect Rhode Island Families Act increased the rate at which Family Court judges required domestic abusers to surrender firearms, compared to rates before the law went into effect.
  • However, despite the new law prohibiting firearm possession and mandating firearm surrender by all abusers who are subject to final Orders of Protection, Family Court judges still only ordered 34 percent of domestic abusers who were subject to final Orders of Protection to surrender their firearms.
  • Even in cases where the defendant was expressly ordered to surrender firearms, only 36 percent of those defendants filed a firearm surrender affidavit, which is required under the new Rhode Island law to prove that they no longer had firearms in their possession.

“It is a dangerous misreading of Rhode Island law to place the burden on survivors of domestic violence to request that their abuser be ordered to give up their guns,” said Eric Tirschwell, Managing Director of Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. “Rhode Island’s new law prohibits firearm possession and makes surrender mandatory with every final order, and that’s why this report calls on the Family Court to ensure that surrender is ordered in every such case.”

“When survivors of domestic violence turn to the courts for help, they’re putting trust in a system during one of the darkest moments of their lives,” said Giovanna Rodriguez, a volunteer with the Rhode Island chapter of Moms Demand Action and member of the Everytown Survivor Network who was terrorized with a gun by her abuser. “The Rhode Island Family Court should do everything in its power to disarm domestic abusers because lives are on the line.”

“Guns and domestic abuse are a deadly combination and we’ve seen firsthand how the Family Court can make a difference in dangerous situations,” said Melissa Power, a volunteer with the Rhode Island chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “Our judges have the power to save lives and we urge the Rhode Island Family Court to heed the findings and recommendations in this report and continue to improve.”

Everytown for Gun Safety’s Rhode Island court monitoring program is the first of its kind for the organization, made possible by the grassroots network of volunteers with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Volunteers received training in Rhode Island’s domestic violence laws and court practice and monitored four Rhode Island Family Court courthouses, located in Providence, Kent, Newport and Washington counties.


The Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence supports the recommendations made in the recently released “Domestic Violence and Firearm Surrender in Rhode Island” report, an important analysis made by trained volunteers through a court monitoring program focusing on the Rhode Island Family Court.

This significant report, compiled through a partnership between Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (Everytown) and the Rhode Island chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (Moms Demand Action), shows that since the “Protect Rhode Island Families Act” was passed in 2017, firearm surrender was required in only 34 percent of final orders of protection, or restraining orders.

Under the “Protect Rhode Island Families Act,” all individuals subject to a final order of protection are prohibited by law from owning or possessing a firearm, and those who are ordered to surrender their firearms must do so within 24 hours of receiving notice of the order. All defendants must also file a proof of firearm surrender with the Family Court within 72 hours of service of the order.

As noted in the report, the “Protect Rhode Island Families Act” is a life-saving law for survivors of domestic violence, as the law – when implemented – disarms domestic abusers. We know when a firearm is present in a domestic violence situation, the risk of homicide for women is five times greater than when a firearm is not present. To protect survivors from further harm, this law must be fully implemented. It is imperative that all domestic abusers are ordered to surrender their firearms, in all restraining orders, without exception. Judges have a critical role in keeping victims safe. The report shows that when judges explained the law and surrender requirements to abusers, 7 out of 10 fully complied with the law. It is essential that judges use their power to uphold the original victim safety intent of the law. We will continue to work with the judicial system and community partners to implement measures that will increase the safety of victims and their families.

We are grateful to Everytown and Moms Demand Action for their work compiling this necessary research, and for shining a light on this issue.