There are currently four anti-gun bills for the 2021 General Assembly to consider. We have seen all of these bills before, in one form or another, in years past. The General Assembly has never shown much interest in any of them in the past. None of them has ever been given a committee hearing and KC3 doesn't expect that to happen this year but we will continue to watch them and express our opposition to them to members of the General Assembly. The four bills are listed here:
HB 70 is a red flag bill. Here is a summary: Create new sections of KRS Chapter 237 to define terms; grant authority to District Court to issue search warrants to law enforcement officers to seize firearms from persons believed to be dangerous due to untreated mental illness or documented evidence of a propensity for violence; grant authority to law enforcement officers to seize firearms from persons believed to be dangerous without a warrant; establish protocols for court hearing to determine dangerousness of person and authority to prohibit person from possessing firearms; establish protocol for petitions to prove person is no longer dangerous; establish protocol for disposition of seized firearms after specified time; require the Administrative Office of the Courts to collect and publish statistics on gun seizures; establish penalties; amend KRS 16.220 to conform.
The entire bill can be seen here: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/21RS/HB70/bill.pdf
HB 80 is a gun storage bill. Here is a summary: Create a new section of KRS Chapter 527 to make it a crime to unlawfully store a firearm; establish elements of the crime for recklessly allowing access to an unsecured firearm by a minor; establish the crime as a Class B misdemeanor unless a physical injury or death results, in which case it is a Class A misdemeanor; establish the short title of "Baby Dre Gun Safety Act."
The entire bill can be seen here: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/21RS/HB80/bill.pdf
HB 83 is an all purpose, omnibus gun ban. It wants to ban, regulate or register everything to do with guns. Here is a summary: Create new sections of KRS Chapter 237 to specify definitions for "assault weapons," "large-capacity ammunition-feeding devices," and "ammunition sellers"; require background checks for private firearms sales; require reporting to law enforcement of firearm and ammunition thefts and losses; require the safe storage of firearms; amend KRS 395.250 to require an estate's inventory to list each firearm; amend KRS 403.735 to require judges, when issuing an order of protection, to consider whether a person against whom the order is entered should be prohibited from possessing an firearm; amend KRS 504.030 to require judges in criminal cases where a person is found not guilty by reason of insanity to demand the surrender of the defendant's firearms; amend KRS 237.104 to conform; amend KRS 506.080 to specify that the offense of facilitation includes assistance in providing firearms; amend KRS 508.020 to include physical injury to a minor by virtue of the intentional discharge of a firearm within the offense of assault in the second degree; create a new section of KRS Chapter 527 to create the offense of criminal purchase or disposal of a weapon; amend KRS 527.040 to require that the sentence for a felon in possession of a firearm be served subsequent to any other felony sentence; amend KRS 527.070 to include post secondary education facilities within the existing ban on firearms in schools; amend KRS 532.030 to require the judge pronouncing a defendant guilty but mentally ill to demand the surrender of the person's firearms; create a new section of KRS Chapter 237 to require the State Police to promulgate administrative regulations relating to the licensing of persons to possess handguns and assault weapons, the registration of handguns and assault weapons, and the logging of firearms and ammunition sales effective January 1, 2022; amend KRS 532.025 to conform; amend KRS 237.115 to conform; repeal KRS 65.870; EMERGENCY; some provisions EFFECTIVE January 1, 2022.
The entire bill can be seen here: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/21RS/HB83/bill.pdf
SB 46 is the Senate version of HB 80. You can see it here: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/21RS/SB46/bill.pdf
All of these bills are sponsored by democrat legislators from Jefferson or Fayette Counties. None of the bills has been assigned to a committee yet. We will let you know when those assignments are made and any other developments concerning these bills or any other matters of interest to Ky. gun owners.
