Bexar County, Texas

June 11, 2025

The CCDV: The Bexar County, TX Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence (CCDV) is a multidisciplinary group of committed professionals that first came together in 2019 after multiple domestic violence-related homicides in their community. It consists of many legal system representatives, including judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement, as well as advocates who work with children and victims of sexual and domestic violence. There is also robust participation from other partners in the community, including public health, legal aid, and the Bexar County Family Justice Center to ensure many perspectives are incorporated into the CCDV’s activities and decisions. Both the city of San Antonio and Bexar County have allocated a staff position to the CCDV, which has provided essential resources for coordination. 

Focus on Firearms: The team recognized that firearms are often used in domestic violence homicides and made reducing abusive partners’ access to firearms by enforcing federal and state law part of their focus. Under the leadership of Judge Monique Diaz, the CCDV formed a Firearm Transfer Subcommittee that included stakeholders from local law enforcement, the ATF, local victim service providers, probation and pretrial services, prosecution, the defense bar, civil attorneys, and the civil and criminal judiciary. The subcommittee met regularly for over a year to thoughtfully create guidance with accompanying forms. The result is a system that allows their community to successfully transfer firearms out of the hands of people whom the court had determined to be dangerous to their partners through a civil protective order process.  

The subcommittee considered every step of the firearm transfer process in their planning, and built in accountability for those required to dispossess themselves of firearms after an adjudication for domestic violence. First, to determine whether the respondent to a domestic violence protection order has any firearms, judges are encouraged to consider testimony, police reports, affidavits in support of the protection order, and the petitioner’s optional statement regarding what firearms the respondent has, if available. 

Where an order is issued that falls under a firearm prohibition, the judge orders the respondent to transfer their firearms to law enforcement, a federally licensed firearm dealer (FFL), or a third party who meets certain conditions. The order gives clear instructions and timelines for the respondent to complete the transfer, and warns of civil or criminal consequences should the order not be followed. The respondent must submit proof of compliance to the court, complete with a receipt from either the law enforcement agency or the FFL that received the firearms.  

If the respondent chooses to transfer the firearms to a third party instead, there are additional recommended steps to ensure that the transfer is appropriate. In addition to passing a background check, the third party may be required to appear in court and submit an affidavit stating that they are legally able to receive the firearms, are willing to do so, and that they will not return the firearms to the respondent without a court order. If the court finds the person to be appropriate to receive the firearms, the judge issues an order allowing the transfer. The third party must then submit an affidavit or receipt to the court to prove that the transfer was completed.  

A key detail that the subcommittee included was an addendum to every order and receipt with space to list each prohibited item that is being transferred. This detail ensures that all firearms and ammunition that the respondent possesses are accounted for in the transfer process and is a key aspect for victim and public safety. The orders, motions, and affidavits that document each of the above-described steps in the transfer process are available to all county judges for use in their courtrooms.  

Another essential piece to success in the transfer process are court monitors. The monitors work in the court’s Family Violence Prevention Program (FVPP), where their stated goal is to provide “victims, offenders, and survivors the resources necessary to effectively cope with the personal, social, emotional, and legal ramifications of victimization.” Their duties include helping to determine if the respondent has access to firearms, facilitating firearm surrenders, and setting compliance hearings to ensure transfers have occurred as ordered. The monitors are key to the transfer process, ensuring that the judge is kept informed.  

More than Protection Orders: While the transfer process was designed with protection orders in mind, judges on civil dockets in Bexar County are also thinking of firearms risk in the other cases they hear. They know that divorce and custody proceedings can be a time of heightened risk for firearm violence, particularly if there has been a history of domestic violence in the family. Judges engaged in the CCDV endeavor to ask about firearm possession in all domestic cases, and make orders regarding firearm transfer that they deem appropriate based on the information they receive. They can also make referrals to the FVPP for services and further assessment of risk. 

Risk Assessment: Risk assessments that include information about firearm threats are conducted by multiple agencies, including the FVPP as described above, to get victims connected with supportive services and inform the legal system’s response. If a victim calls 911 because of a domestic violence incident, the officer on the scene of a call or a coordinator over the phone conduct the Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement (DA-LE). The results of the on-site screenings are sent electronically as a Microsoft Form from the patrol car to an advocate and detective, which then prompts an advocate response that is informed by the level of dangerousness. Victims who reach out to the Bexar County Family Justice Center (FJC) are screened using the Danger Assessment and strangulation questionnaires, and those who are identified as “high-risk,” which includes firearm concerns, receive expedited services, including victim coordinators who specialize in navigating dangerous cases. If the victim is engaged with the court system, an FJC partner agency notifies the court that firearms are involved in the case and requests appropriate action. Risk assessments help everyone involved, from victims to law enforcement to attorneys, understand how dangerous a particular situation may be and plan accordingly. This risk assessment loop was coordinated with resources already available to the community partners. 

Proactive Prosecutors: After he was elected in 2019, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales reallocated resources to make the Family Violence Division the largest division in the office, in recognition of the complexity and dangerousness of these cases. Prosecutors regularly request that firearm prohibitions be included as a bond condition in domestic violence cases, particularly when firearms were involved in the charged crime. If the restricted person tries to purchase a firearm while the bond condition is in effect, pretrial services notifies the prosecutor. The prosecutor then makes the court aware that the defendant has attempted to purchase a firearm in violation of their bond so that the judge may take appropriate action. Additionally, the DA’s office policy is to request the destruction of firearms when they were used in the commission of the crime being prosecuted. 

In addition to prosecuting DV felonies and misdemeanors, the DA’s office has developed a unique system in which prosecutors will represent petitioners at civil protection order hearings, whether or not there is a related criminal case. Prosecutors request firearm prohibitions in all protection order cases that they assist in filing. Given the lack of available victim legal services to meet the community need, this devotion of resources from the DA’s office helps fill that gap and center’s the needs and safety of victims whether they wish to participate in a criminal process or not. Notably, the overwhelming majority of civil domestic violence protection orders filed in Bexar County are filed by the DA’s Office.   

Victim-Centered Response:  

The FJC has been particularly responsive to victims’ needs. In addition to having advocacy, counseling, and legal services (including assistance filing for a protection order and/or filing a police report) available in one location, they have also worked to address some of victims’ more practical needs. They created an onsite food bank and childcare center, as well as assisting people with housing, financial aid, and job searching. This wraparound approach helps reduce barriers to safety for victims. Overall, the CCDV measures success on whether people are reaching out for help, and partners like the FJC have intentionally created “lots of front doors.” 

Training and Transparency: Bexar County’s CCDV continues to work together to improve victim safety and offender accountability. In addition to the case-specific work described above, they regularly provide expert training to their community. They are also committed to transparency, releasing annual reports on their website. Read more about their results, current work, and future plans by visiting https://ccdv.org  

Sample Bexar County court forms are available upon request by emailing info@nrcdvf.org. 

This project was supported by Grant No. 15JOVW-23-GK-05140-MUMU awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this program are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.