Domestic violence: protective orders: background checks.

The Domestic Violence Prevention Act requires the court, before a hearing on the issuance or denial of a protective order, to ensure that a search of specified records and databases is or has been made to determine if the proposed subject of the order has, among other things, a registered firearm. Existing law limits the implementation of the registered firearm search requirement to courts identified by the Judicial Council as having resources currently available for those purposes. Existing law also limits the implementation of the registered firearm search requirement in other courts to the extent that funds are appropriated for those purposes in the annual Budget Act. This bill would instead require the court to determine if the subject of the proposed order owns or possesses a firearm as reflected in the Department of Justice Automated Firearms System. The bill would repeal the limitation on the firearm search requirement, thereby extending the firearm search requirement to all courts. The bill would make related findings and declarations.