Other than the Extreme Risk Protection Order, the District of Columbia has few other laws specifically requiring the removal of firearms from persons who have become prohibited from possessing them.

While a judge has discretion whether to order the relinquishment of firearms pursuant to a permanent domestic violence protection order,¹ a temporary protection order must require that the respondent relinquish possession of any firearms or ammunition and prohibit the respondent from having possession or control of, purchasing, or receiving any firearm or ammunition while the protection order is in effect.²

A police officer, in the course of a lawful arrest or lawful search, who discovers a dangerous article he or she reasonably believes is a nuisance, must take possession of the article and surrender it to the property clerk of the Metropolitan Police Department.³ A “dangerous article” includes a handgun, machine gun and sawed-off shotgun.⁴ A dangerous article unlawfully owned, possessed, or carried is a nuisance.⁵

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1. D.C. Code Ann. § 16-1005(c)(10).[↩]
2. D.C. Code Ann. § 16-1004(h)(2).[↩]
3. D.C. Code Ann. § 22-4517(b), (c).[↩]
4. D.C. Code Ann. § 22-4517(a).[↩]
5. D.C. Code Ann. § 22-4517(b).[↩]