A wife filed a complaint seeking a domestic violence restraining order against her husband under the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act. The court granted a temporary restraining order and seized the defendant’s firearms. The court then granted a final restraining order (FRO), but a few days later granted the defendant’s motion to reconsider and later dismissed the petition without issuing a FRO. The State alleged that the defendant still had to surrender his firearms because a FRO was issued, but the defendant claimed that he did not have to surrender the guns since the FRO was vacated and the petition dismissed. The trial court and Appellate Division ruled in favor of the defendant, finding the vacated FRO could not support forfeiture of the weapons.
