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Politics Sep 05, 2023
LA County officials speak during a gun violence restraining order press conference. | Photo courtesy of LA County Department of Public Health
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The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday approved recommendations intended to promote and track the filing of gun violence restraining orders against people who pose a danger to themselves or others.
The council voted 14-0 to support recommendations in a report from the Los Angeles Police Department, with Councilwoman Heather Hutt absent for the vote.
LAPD Detective Marie Sadanaga, a gun violence restraining order coordinator, filed the report, which recommends the creation of a database that can be used by the LAPD and the City Attorney’s Office to track gun violence emergency protective orders and temporary firearms restraining orders. It also recommends partnering with the L.A. County Office of Violence Prevention to increase awareness in the community about GVROs.
According to the report, the database will serve to ensure proper follow-up on mandated hearings, within a 21-day time frame, to consider a long- term GVRO that would limit an individual from accessing firearms for up to five years. The report also notes that GVRO denials and inquiries should be tracked.
Other recommendations include raising GVRO awareness and enforcement in partnership with courts, communities and law enforcement.
The LAPD previously established an internal database to track GVROs obtained by officers, but the City Attorney’s Office is unable to access it.
The report was initiated by a motion introduced by Councilman Tim McOsker in February seeking to identify the “necessary resources” to promote and track the use of California Red Flag laws to file GVROs.
“California’s Red Flag law allows employers, coworkers, teachers and family to seek a court order to remove firearms from a person they perceive as potentially dangerous,” McOsker’s motion read. “Through removing firearms, even temporarily, from the possession of a person who is considered a threat to others, red flag laws are a tool to prevent gun violence.”
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