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Home/Bills/A 544New York · 2025–2026 Legislative Session
Assembly BillIntroduced

A 544: Requires police officers to take temporary custody of firearms for not less than one hundred twenty hours when responding to reports of family violence.

New York · Assembly · 2025–2026 Legislative Session · last verified July 2, 2025

What A 544 does, verified July 2, 2025

The bill aims to require police officers to take temporary custody of firearms when responding to reports of family violence. Police officers can take custody of firearms if the victim responds affirmatively to threats or lethality assessment questions in a standardized domestic incident report, or if they have a reasonable belief that removing the weapon is necessary to protect the victim or prevent further violence. The officer must also take custody of any license to carry, possess, repair, and dispose of the weapon. The seized firearm and license must be delivered to the appropriate law enforcement officer. A court or licensing authority must direct the return of the firearm and/or license within 120 hours, unless there is a court order or pending charge prohibiting possession. The bill takes effect immediately.

Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: substituted by s1985a (2025-06-11)Alert me
Author and sponsors
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Coauthors
Rebecca SeawrightKaren McMahonDana LevenbergJonathan JacobsonJudy GriffinNader SayeghMaryJane ShimskySteven Otis
Recent actions7 total · showing 5
Jun. 11, 2025substituted by s1985a
May. 21, 2025amended on third reading 544b
Mar. 13, 2025advanced to third reading cal.54
Mar. 11, 2025reported
Feb. 28, 2025amend and recommit to codes
Full action history, 2 earlier actionsConnect Plus
Latest bill textIntroduced version, January 8, 2025 · 504 words
  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 544 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, SEAWRIGHT, McMAHON, LEVENBERG, JACOBSON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to requiring police officers to take temporary custody of firearms when responding to reports of family violence The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraphs (a) and (c) of subdivision 6 of section 140.10 2 of the criminal procedure law, as added by section 2 of part M of chap- 3 ter 55 of the laws of 2020, are amended to read as follows: 4 (a) A police officer who responds to a report of a family offense as 5 defined in section 530.11 of this chapter and section eight hundred 6 twelve of the family court act [may] shall take temporary custody of any 7 firearm, rifle, electronic dart gun, electronic stun gun, disguised gun, 8 imitation weapon, shotgun, antique firearm, black powder rifle, black 9 powder shotgun, or muzzle-loading firearm that is in plain sight or is 10 discovered pursuant to a consensual or other lawful search, and shall 11 take temporary custody of any such weapon that is in the possession of 12 any person arrested for the commission of such family offense or 13 suspected of its commission. An officer who takes custody of any weapon 14 pursuant to this paragraph shall also take custody of any license to 15 carry, possess, repair, and dispose of such weapon issued to the person 16 arrested or suspected of such family offense. The officer shall deliver 17 such weapon and/or license to the appropriate law enforcement officer as 18 provided in subparagraph (f) of paragraph one of subdivision a of 19 section 265.20 of the penal law. 20 (c) Not less than [forty-eight] one hundred twenty hours after effect- 21 ing such seizure, and in the absence of (i) an order of protection, an 22 extreme risk protection order, or other court order prohibiting the 23 owner from possessing such a weapon and/or license, or (ii) a pending EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02092-01-5 

 A. 544 2 1 criminal charge or conviction which prohibits such owner from possessing 2 such a weapon and/or license, and upon a written finding that there is 3 no legal impediment to the owner's possession of such a weapon and/or 4 license, the court or, if no court is involved, licensing authority or 5 custodian of the weapon shall direct return of a weapon not otherwise 6 disposed of in accordance with subdivision one of section 400.05 of the 7 penal law and/or such license taken into custody pursuant to this 8 section. 9 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. 

Text of A 544 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions
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