Police Officers, Service Members and the Domestic Violence Firearm Ban

There is no on-duty exception. Federal law generally exempts firearms issued for the use of government agencies from its firearm prohibitions, but the exemption expressly leaves out the ban that follows a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.^[1] A police officer or service member with a qualifying conviction cannot lawfully possess even a government-issued firearm.^[1]

For people whose work depends on carrying a firearm, a domestic violence case is therefore a career question as well as a criminal one. This page sets out what the federal statute says, what Michigan's licensing agency has said about officers and recruits, and what could and could not be verified about military consequences.

What the federal exemption says, and what it leaves out

18 USC 925(a)(1) provides that the provisions of the federal firearms chapter "shall not apply" to the transportation, shipment, receipt, possession, or importation of any firearm or ammunition "imported for, sold or shipped to, or issued for the use of, the United States or any department or agency thereof or any State or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof."^[1] That is the official-use exemption.

The same sentence opens with an exception: it applies to the provisions of the chapter "except for sections 922(d)(9) and 922(g)(9)."^[1] Section 922(g)(9) is the ban on possession by a person convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.^[5] Section 922(d)(9) makes it unlawful to sell or otherwise dispose of a firearm or ammunition to such a person.^[6] Both are carved out, so the exemption protects neither the officer who possesses a duty weapon nor the person who hands it over.

As the text is written, the carve-out is specific to domestic violence misdemeanors. The official-use exemption does cover government-issued firearms for a person subject to a qualifying protection order under section 922(g)(8) and for a person with a felony conviction under section 922(g)(1).^[1] State law and agency policy can still restrict those people.

The penalty is the same as for anyone else: a knowing violation of section 922(g) is punishable by a fine, imprisonment for not more than 15 years, or both.^[7] What counts as a qualifying conviction, including the rule that the offense need not be labeled "domestic," is explained in the federal firearm ban under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(9).

Michigan police officers

The state 8-year ban applies to officers

Since February 13, 2024, Michigan has had its own firearm ban for a "misdemeanor involving domestic violence," lasting 8 years after the sentence is completed.^[8][9] The Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES), which licenses officers, addressed it in official correspondence dated May 16, 2024: "it would be unlawful for a licensed law enforcement officer with a MCIDV conviction within that time period to possess a firearm."^[2] MCIDV is the agency's abbreviation for a misdemeanor crime involving domestic violence.^[9]

MCOLES has also stated its interpretation that the state ban applies to convictions entered before February 13, 2024. That is an agency interpretation; the statute is silent on the point, and no court decision was located.^[10] See Michigan's 8-year firearm ban.

License revocation

Losing the ability to carry is different from losing the license. MCL 28.609(12) lists the circumstances in which MCOLES "shall revoke" a law enforcement license.^[3]

Outcome of the case	Mandatory revocation?	Firearm possession
Adjudication of guilt for an offense punishable by more than 1 year	Yes[3]	Barred under the felony provisions of state and federal law[11][12]
Second-offense domestic assault, MCL 750.81(4)	Yes[3]	Barred for 8 years under Michigan law if both convictions involved a person described in section 81(2)[13][8]
Aggravated assault, MCL 750.81a	Yes[3]	Barred for 8 years under Michigan law when the conviction is under section 81a(2)[13][8]
Misdemeanor stalking, MCL 750.411h	Yes[3]	Barred for 8 years under Michigan law when the conviction is under section 411h(2)(c)[13][8]
First-offense domestic assault, MCL 750.81(2)	Not on the mandatory list[3]	Barred for 8 years under Michigan law, with no exception for officers according to MCOLES[8][2]

For convictions that do not require revocation, MCOLES says the decision belongs to the employer: several of the listed offenses "are not crimes for which the Commission can revoke the officer's license," and "it is up to the employing agency to determine the proper course of action."^[2] What an agency does with an officer who cannot carry a firearm is therefore a matter of that agency's policies and any applicable labor agreement, which vary and are not covered by the sources reviewed here.

Recruits and applicants

MCOLES has stated that unlicensed candidates "will not be given access to the licensing process, either to a basic police academy or RPTE, if they have been convicted of a MCIDV and less than 8 years have passed since completing the entirety of their probation, any terms of incarceration, and paid fines."^[2]

Separately, MCOLES is one of the licensing bodies exempt from the general rule that limits how occupational boards may use criminal convictions. It may use any criminal conviction as evidence in determining good moral character, though not as conclusive proof.^[14] Other licensed occupations are covered in professional licenses and domestic violence.

Before any conviction: charges, bond and PPOs

An officer's firearm access can be affected well before a case ends.

• Bond. A release order in a criminal case may include a condition that the defendant not purchase or possess a firearm, and the court must impose that condition if it orders electronic monitoring.^[15]
• Personal protection orders. A domestic relationship PPO may restrain the respondent from purchasing or possessing a firearm.^[16] If the petitioner knows the respondent is a police officer, sheriff, deputy sheriff, State Police member, corrections officer, or another person who carries a firearm for work, the petitioner must notify the court of the respondent's occupation before the order is issued.^[17]
• Faster hearing. When such a respondent is barred from purchasing or possessing a firearm by an ex parte PPO and files a motion to modify or rescind it, the court must schedule the hearing within 5 days after the motion is filed, instead of the usual 14.^[18]
• Employer notice. If the respondent is identified in the pleadings as a law enforcement officer, the court clerk must notify the officer's employing agency, if known, about the existence of the PPO.^[19]

These rules are explained in PPOs and firearms, ex parte PPOs, and firearms while the case is pending.

Service members

The federal statute is the same for the military as for police: firearms issued for the use of "the United States or any department or agency thereof" are within the official-use exemption, and section 922(g)(9) is excluded from that exemption.^[1]

The only military source that could be read for this library is an undated legal-assistance handout from a U.S. Army installation, which refers to Army Regulation 600-20. It states that:^[4]

• The federal ban, often called the Lautenberg Amendment, applies to soldiers, and both Army-issued and privately owned weapons fall within its scope.^[4]
• Commanders should retrieve issued weapons from a soldier with a qualifying conviction and assign duties that do not involve bearing arms.^[4]
• The ban does not apply to summary court-martial convictions, nonjudicial punishment under Article 15, or deferred prosecutions or similar alternative dispositions in a civilian court.^[4]
• The related conviction may be the basis for separation from the Army.^[4]

The Department of Defense instruction on this subject and the Army regulation itself could not be retrieved when this page was prepared, so their current wording is not verified here, and nothing on this page describes the policies of the other service branches.^[4] A service member facing a domestic violence charge should ask a military legal assistance office how current policy applies.

Why the form of the outcome matters

Both firearm bans attach to a conviction. The Michigan statute applies to "a person convicted," and the federal statute to a person "convicted in any court."^[8][5] Three points follow, each with limits.

• Deferral. Michigan law says a discharge and dismissal under MCL 769.4a is not a conviction for purposes of disqualifications or disabilities imposed by law upon conviction of a crime.^[20] Whether and when federal law treats a Michigan deferral as a conviction is not decided by any primary source reviewed for this library.^[21] Police licensing uses a different test: the revocation provisions turn on an "adjudication of guilt," which the MCOLES statute defines to include a plea of guilty or no contest entered in conjunction with probation under MCL 769.4a.^[22] For the offenses on the mandatory revocation list, then, a deferral is not treated the way it is for other purposes. See does a 769.4a deferral count as a conviction?
• Plea to a different offense. A plea to a general assault charge can still trigger the federal ban if the victim was in a covered relationship, because the relationship need not be an element of the earlier offense.^[23]
• Set-aside or pardon. Neither ban applies to a conviction that has been expunged, set aside or pardoned, unless the order expressly bars firearms.^[24][25] See can gun rights be restored?

What people get wrong

The most common mistake is the belief that police and soldiers "can still carry on duty." Federal law excludes the domestic violence misdemeanor ban from the official-use exemption, and MCOLES reads the Michigan ban the same way for officers.^[1][2]

The second is to assume that a conviction which leaves the license intact leaves the job intact. First-offense domestic assault is not a mandatory revocation offense, but the officer still may not possess a firearm during the Michigan period, and the federal ban has no period of years at all.^[3][2][26]

Employment consequences outside law enforcement are covered in domestic violence and employment background checks.