Letter to Client Regarding Firearms
[Date]
[Name and address of client]
Re: [style of case]
[Salutation]
The Gun Control Act at 18 U.S.C. § 922 makes it unlawful for certain categories of persons to ship, transport, receive, or possess firearms or ammunition, including any person—
•convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
•who is a fugitive from justice;
•who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act, codified at 21 U.S.C. § 802);
•who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution;
•who is in the United States illegally;
•who has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions;
•who has renounced his or her United States citizenship;
•who is subject to a court order restraining the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of the intimate partner or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child; or
•who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
It is routine practice for a court in a family law case such as this to enter an order prohibiting a party from “threatening the other party in person, by telephone, or in writing to take unlawful action against any person,” “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury to the other party or to a child of either party,” or “threatening the other party or a child of either party with imminent bodily injury.” If an order with similar language is entered in your case, or if a domestic violence protective order is entered against you, you may be subject to prosecution for a federal felony if you possess a firearm or ammunition. If you own firearms or ammunition, please place them with a third party away from your residence for safekeeping pending divorce. When a final order is signed by the judge in this case, you may be permitted to possess these items again unless the final order expressly prohibits your possession of firearms or ammunition.
If you are convicted of the misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, you may be subject to prosecution for a federal felony if you possess any firearm or ammunition. In this circumstance, your right to possess a firearm or ammunition could be forfeited for life.
Please sign below to acknowledge my advice.
Sincerely yours,
[Name of attorney]
I acknowledge the advice given by my attorney.
___________________________________
[Name of client]