SB 1470 amends CCP Art. 26.13 and requires a court to admonish a defendant convicted of a family violence offense that he can no longer possess or transfer a firearm or ammunition.

I have prepared the warning that appears below that will be in all our plea paperwork. Have I missed anything?

"Family violence offense. If the defendant does not receive deferred adjudication for a misdemeanor involving family violence as defined by Family Code Sec. 71.004, the defendant may not thereafter possess or transfer a firearm or ammunition under federal law."

Why say it in the negative? The admonishment is designed to inform the defendant he can't possess a firearm if he is "convicted" of any misdmeanor involving family violence. Does it matter whether there was an actual finding?

There will be confusion. Does a deferred count as a conviction for the purpose of firearm possession under federal law, which is the source of the prohibition? How does a defense attorney draw the distinction that even a deferred is a "conviction" for the purpose of a enhanced 2nd family violence assault.

This is yet another bad addition to the tripwires in a guilty plea. Done to retain federal money.

We have been using a firearm admonition in our FV court for sometime. Judge Denton usually says, "I further advise that you that having been convicted of a family violence offense is not a crime in both the federal system (for the rest of your life) and in the State system for you to possess firearms or ammunition from this day forward." He also puts a stamp on his clerk file that says "firearm warning". he does not make a distinction for the deferred's. We also do not parse up all of the nuances of the federal lawe.g. intimate partners only v. our broader state definition of FV. We started using it because our local AUSA would not take firearms cases without it.