Domestic violence effort set
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez announced Wednesday a new initiative that would temporarily store firearms turned in by people who have protective orders filed against them in domestic violence cases.
The establishment of the “Safe Surrender” program is considered a major gain for domestic violence victims and advocacy groups, since more than half of 2017 domestic violence fatalities in Texas are caused by gunshots.
“I have been to too many murder scenes — both as a Houston Police Department detective and now as sheriff — that were caused by domestic violence,” Gonzalez said at a press conference. “Here in Harris County, we know that more than 40 percent of our homicides are the result of domestic violence. We have to act.”
In Harris County last year, there were almost 60,000 calls
made to domestic violence hotlines.
The county also led Texas that year in the highest number of deaths as a result of domestic violence, with 29 fatalities. Statewide, 136 women were killed, 65 percent of whom were shot. And the moment a victim decides to leave her abusive partner, her chances of being severely injured or murdered increases by 75 percent, studies show.
State and federal laws, enacted in the 1970s, mandates that people with protective orders filed against them are not allowed to possess firearms.
However, Harris County State District Judge Judy Warne said those individuals’ options were limited to either selling or transferring their guns to other people, resulting in many of them keeping their weapons unlawfully.
Cutting firearm possession
A year and a half ago, domestic violence agencies in Harris County joined with law enforcement agencies to establish the Safe Surrender Committee, which met monthly to find a way to decrease firearm possession among abusers.
“We know that national statistics tell us that when abusers have access to guns, then the victim is five times more likely to be murdered,” said Barbie Brashear, executive director of the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council.
“That correlation tells us there’s this real need to do something and offer people with protective orders against them a way to have that gun put away for safekeeping.”
Reaching out to deputies
As part of the new initiative, when a court approves a protective order against an individual, a copy will be sent to a Harris County Sheriff ’s deputy assigned to the Safe Surrender program.
The individual then has the option to reach out to the deputy to store the firearm with the department until the protective order is expired.
“This is a surrender, not a seizure,” Gonzalez noted. “We’re trying to have a process in place where we can diminish … how things can quickly spiral out of control. We know this is still a work in progress.”