BATON ROUGE - New data by the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement may show a lack of enforcement of the state's firearm dispossession law.

Every parish was measured on the amount of transfer-of-firearm orders and the amount of firearms that were actually returned in 2023. The data shows over a 100 cases of defendants keeping their guns. 

The law passed in 2014 and recently upheld by the Supreme Court states that judges must issue an order for those convicted of domestic abuse to give up their firearms. The sheriff's office must track those returns. They also can not own any guns until ten years after conviction.

In East Baton Rouge Parish, there were more than 1200 orders for transfer of firearms. Only 51 of them were given up.

Executive Director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence Mariah Wineski says that their is a lack of education on the severity of domestic violence and that this data is not surprising because it matches domestic abuse survivors experiences with the justice system and their attempts to seek safety.

"Domestic violence is minimized in our systems and in our society. If we're minimizing domestic violence and not seeing the severity of it, then we will be making excuses rather than making the necessary changes," Wineski said. 

Wineski says proper enforcement of this law is crucial for it be effective. Although there are many flaws with the law, she believes it does help domestic violence survivors.

"We have seen it implemented well in other parishes. In those parishes where the transfers do happen consistently, that's hundreds of firearms that can no longer be used to injure a victim," she said.

She encourage all domestic violence victims to seek out resources and call the statewide hotline whenever help is needed.