Kentucky law does not:

• Prohibit individuals convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors from possessing firearms or ammunition (unlike federal law );
• Prohibit individuals subject to domestic violence protective orders from possessing firearms or ammunition (unlike federal law );
• Require courts to notify people when they become prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law due to domestic violence ;
• Require the surrender of firearms or ammunition by people who have become prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law due to domestic violence; or
• Explicitly authorize or require the removal of firearms or ammunition at the scene of a domestic violence incident.

Kentucky law only includes the following provisions relating to domestic violence and firearms:

• The Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet must make a reasonable effort to provide notice to a person who obtained a domestic violence protective order if the person subject to the order has attempted to purchase a firearm. This requirement only applies if the person who sought the protective order requests such notification.¹
• A court or agency making a decision regarding pretrial release of a person who is arrested for assault or certain sexual violations or who has been charged with a violation of a domestic violence protective order may impose, as a condition or pretrial release, an order prohibiting the person from using or possessing a firearm.²
• Kentucky provides for the suspension of a license to carry a concealed deadly weapon if the licensee is subject to a domestic violence order or emergency protective order.³

Finally, Kentucky law explicitly provides that a restraining order triggered by a conviction for, or guilty plea to, stalking does not “operate as a ban on the purchase or possession of firearms or ammunition by the defendant.”⁴

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1. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 237.100(1), (2).[↩]
2. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 431.064.[↩]
3. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 237.110(13)(k).[↩]
4. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 508.155(6).[↩]