Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 2024 ‘Domestic Violence & Firearms in Kentucky.’ Who Can Have a Gun. San Francisco, CA: Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 19 April

Relevant contents

Domestic Violence and Firearms in Kentucky

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 domestic abusers when they become prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law;
- Require the surrender of firearms or ammunition by domestic abusers who have become prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law; 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.
- 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.
- 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.

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."…

[Editor's note: The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence regularly updates its webpages with new data as US gun regulation evolves state by state. For the most up-to-date information on US gun laws, please refer to the Giffords URL below]

Last accessed at:
https://giffords.org/lawcenter/state-laws/domestic-violence-and-firearms-in-kentucky/