Drug Crimes Home Article Index

WHAT IS A BRADY INDICATOR? A final order of protection may refer to Brady indicators. These stem from the ''Brady'' provisions of the federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (P. L. 103-322), codified at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). The Brady indicators are used to extend the prohibitions of the Gun Control Act of 1968 relating to the possession, receipt and purchase of firearms and ammunition of persons who are subject to a final protection order, if the protection order meets four criteria.  These four criteria are known as the Brady indicators: 1) The plaintiff or protected person(s) is an ''intimate partner'' within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(32) being a spouse, former spouse, a person who cohabitates or has cohabited with the Defendant, a parent of a common child, or a child of one of these people, or a child of the defendant; 2) The order must have been entered after a hearing of which the defendant received actual notice and had the opportunity to be heard; 3) The order of protection restrains the defendant from harassing, stalking, or threatening the plaintiff or protected person(s); and 4) The order includes a finding that the defendant represents a credible threat to the physical safety of the Plaintiff or other protected person(s) or by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force against the Plaintiff or other protected person(s) that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury. A "Yes" response to all four Brady indicators is mandatory to enter a protection order into the NCIC file.  Then, the order will be entered into a statewide Registry and the NCIC file indicating that the defendant may be subject to prosecution under federal law if he or she possesses, receives or purchases firearms at any time while the order is in effect.