Recovery of firearms from persons newly subject to domestic violence restraining orders: Effect on incidence of arrest for violent and other criminal activity

Background/Purpose Persons who legally acquire firearms may become prohibited from owning them. Little is known about subsequent criminal activity among such persons or about effects of enforcing the firearms prohibition. We measured the prevalence and incidence of arrest among persons linked to firearms by standardized screening who had been served with domestic violence restraining orders, thereby becoming prohibited persons. We evaluated an intervention to recover their firearms. Methods Controlled observational study of 525 restraining order respondents in 1 largely urban California county. Enrollment was from May 2007 to June 2010; median follow-up was 600 days. The intervention was firearms recovery when or soon after the order was served. Arrest during follow-up was the main outcome measure. Respondents from whom firearms were not recovered formed the referent group. Results/Outcomes Half the respondents (49.5%) had previously been arrested, including 24.8% for domestic violence and 33.0% for other violent or firearm-related offenses. The incidence of arrest was 4.2% among respondents with no prior arrest history and 37.7% for those with prior arrests. Firearm recovery was associated with a reduced overall risk of arrest [incidence 12.6% in the intervention group, 24.2% in the referent group, Odds Ratio (OR) 0.5, 95% CI 0.2-0.8, P= .04] and a parallel, nonsignficant reduction for violent and firearm-related offenses other than domestic violence (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.2-1.2, P= .28). Multivariate results were similar. Conclusions In this population, recovering firearms from persons who were prohibited from owning them was with reduced risk for subsequent arrest.