COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR RESOLUTION NO. 210756

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RESOLUTION - Directing the City Manager to identify $200,000.00 in funding for this fiscal year to be used to develop and implement a program to receive, store and safely dispose of weapons surrendered in Kansas City Municipal Court domestic violence cases and to report back to Council within 45 days with a plan for sustainable funding, development and implementation of this program that includes best practices from other jurisdictions.

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WHEREAS, Kansas City funds its Municipal Court, providing, among other items, much needed support for those in our community who are victims of domestic violence; and

WHEREAS, Municipal Court has a division dedicated to the prosecution of domestic violence; and

WHEREAS, in connection with Municipal Court convictions, defendants often agree to permanently forfeit any weapons possessed by that defendant as a condition of probation; and

WHEREAS, Municipal Court has 171 defendants with 288 open cases where either "permanently forfeit weapon" or "do not possess or purchase any firearm ammunition" is a condition of the probation; and

WHEREAS, when weapons are surrendered by a defendant, there is no physical location for that defendant to turn the weapons in; i.e., no employee, no process to comply with that term of probation and no location established to receive the weapons, store the weapons or safely dispose of the weapons; and

WHEREAS, to effectively establish a program to receive, store and safely dispose of all weapons voluntarily forfeited in domestic violence actions, a city employee classification will need to be identified and funded to oversee all elements of the program and a depository safe to store the weapons must be purchased and placed in a location identified as safe for receipt of the weapons; and

WHEREAS, Council desires to establish a process for receipt, storage and safe disposal of all weapons voluntarily ...

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