State Department of Education - Organ Donation - Development of Educational Materials
HB1050 revises Maryland’s domestic violence protective order laws to make firearm surrender a mandatory part of interim, temporary, and final protective orders. The bill removes the prior limitation that firearm surrender was required only when the abuse involved a firearm or serious bodily harm, and instead requires respondents subject to those orders to surrender any firearms in their possession and refrain from possessing firearms for the duration of the order. It also adds detailed procedures for surrender, proof of surrender, storage, recovery, transfer, destruction, and possible search-warrant enforcement when firearms are believed to remain in the respondent’s possession.
The bill also expands the information a petitioner may be asked to provide when alleging that the respondent has a handgun qualification license or owns/possesses a firearm, including details about the firearm’s location, type, storage, and related safety planning. In addition, HB1050 creates a temporary Task Force to Study the Use of Firearms in Domestic Violence Situations, with legislative, law enforcement, domestic violence advocacy, gun safety, and court representatives, to examine accountability measures and pilot program ideas and report recommendations by November 15, 2025.
HB1050 would amend multiple sections of the Family Law Article governing protective orders, especially §§ 4-504, 4-504.1, 4-505, 4-506, 4-506.1, and 4-509. It broadens mandatory firearm surrender requirements, clarifies law enforcement authority to collect and store firearms, authorizes written proof and affidavits regarding surrender or non-possession, and allows for search-warrant procedures to locate firearms when there is probable cause to believe a respondent has not complied. The bill also creates a short-lived task force under the State Government Article framework to study firearm use in domestic violence cases and recommend accountability and pilot-program approaches.
The bill text suggests a strong public-safety and domestic-violence-prevention orientation, with an emphasis on removing firearms from respondents subject to protective orders. The inclusion of a task force with both gun-safety and law-enforcement representation indicates an effort to build a policy record and stakeholder consensus around implementation. No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of floor or committee sentiment beyond the bill’s structure and sponsors.
The most likely points of contention are the expansion of mandatory firearm surrender to all protective-order cases, the added burden on petitioners to provide firearm- and license-related information, and the expanded enforcement tools for law enforcement, including search warrants and accompaniment to firearm locations. Supporters are likely to emphasize victim safety, improved compliance, and clearer enforcement procedures, while opponents may raise concerns about due process, privacy, administrative burden, and the scope of firearm restrictions. The task force provision may reflect an attempt to address these concerns by studying implementation and stakeholder accountability before any longer-term changes.