Clients and attorneys both must be aware of the consequences of an order of protection. I find way too many times that attorneys fail to advise and clients are not aware of the consequences a domestic order of protection has with gun rights. This is particularly important in Mississippi where virtually everyone or their family members own a firearm.
If an individual has a domestic violence retraining order issued against them after the person charged has a hearing, they are disqualified from owning a firearm under the Brady Act. If they are found in possession of a firearm after that, it is a felony. The interesting issue is that it does not apply to ex parte restraining orders, it only applies where the other side has appeared or the opportunity to appear and a hearing has occurred.
Too many times I have seen cases where these restraining orders are abused to get a tactical advantage in a divorce case. Later once an attorney is involved, an agreed order is entered to place permanent retraining order or a mutual restraining order is issued which affects the gun rights of both parties. This can be easily avoided. The easiest solution to keep the status quo in place and to the prevent anyone from losing their guns is to have the ex parte order continued to give everything a chance to calm down without having a hearing. This gets around the Brady issue and hopefully gives time for a solution to be reached.
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