Sen. Whitney Westerfield’s still-evolving bill falls under a category of laws known by the acronym CARR – or Crisis Aversion and Rights Retention. The goal is to provide some path for concerned residents to get guns out of the hands of those undergoing severe mental health crises that could result in violence or self-harm.
Westerfield presented lawmakers will twin versions of the draft bill language. Both would require someone to notify police of the situation.
Under one scenario, if convinced of the need, law enforcement would then contact the individual in question and offer a choice between keeping their weapons and attending a hearing with a judge within hours to determine whether to temporarily remove the guns.
Under a second scenario, the person could surrender their guns immediately and attend a hearing within a week.
Both would come with the presumption that the guns would be returned once the proceedings had ended.
In Friday’s hearing, Rep. Jason Nemes pressed Westerfield on the constitutionality of the process.
"Fundamentally, this bill takes away a constitutional right from a citizen based on the prediction that they might commit a crime in the future," Names said, invoking the film Minority Report as a reference. "And so we've heard today that that could be indefinite. It's not just the 72 hours. It could be forever, if the judge continues to have that."
Westerfield countered that constitutional rights already entail a number of limits, and the problem of mass shootings warrants a response. He used the example of the Old National Bank shooting in Kentucky earlier this year.
"But if you knew that the shooter at the bank in Louisville in April was going to go and shoot all those people — if you knew in advance — I don't think anybody in here would arm him. Do we have to make some best guess on a list of factors, based on concerns raised by people who know that individual? That's the best that we've got," Westerfield said. "If you've got another solution, man, I'm all ears."
CARR laws have been enacted in nearly 20 states. No bill has been filed yet in Kentucky, but Westerfield said it will be once he’s received as much input as possible.
Violent Offender Bill
The gun bill hearing was immediately followed by another legislative work-in-progress known as BR 18. The bill that would add more crimes to the list of felonies that would have the violent offender label attached.
BR 18 would amend Kentucky’s violent offender statute to include not just anyone who’s been convicted or pled guilty to the commission of a capital offense, a Class A felony, or other felonies listed in the statute — but also any felony that involves the death or serious injury of a victim, along with anyone convicted of attempting such an offense.
Sen. Rand Paul summarized it this way in recorded video testimony.
"Under current law, an assailant who successfully shoots and kills another individual with a firearm is required, by statute, to serve at least 85% of their prison sentence. But if, under the exact same circumstance, the assailant misses his intended target, current law would allow that assailant to be eligible for parole after serving only 20% of the sentence."
Backers of the proposal want to close that gap.
The bill has yet to be filed, but is expected to be taken up during the 2024 legislative session.
