“After police say a Maryland woman was killed by her husband within hours of seeking a restraining order, a D.C. lawmaker is proposing a change to better protect victims of domestic violence. Democratic Councilmember Mary Cheh, who represents Ward 3, said she wants judges in D.C. to have the authority to remove guns from anyone served with a protective order and to restrict them from buying firearms.” – DC lawmaker wants judges to remove guns from accused domestic abusers [via wtop.com]
-“Within hours”
-Wants to establish a system of judges and a confiscation force.
It’s as if she can’t hear her own words.
This baffled me as well.
Without GREAT expediency (which the government is incapable of) they can’t remove guns quickly even if they did violate due process (which the government has proven themselves very capable of).
If you are convicted of domestic violence you’re not allowed to have guns in the first place. A simple accusation without due process is certainly not something that should be implemented, even if it results in a net benefit: it’s a violation of human rights.
A domestic abuser who is determined to maim/kill their “partner” will have no trouble succeeding with countless methods that do not require a firearm. Not to mention the fact that the abuser could easily have additional firearms hidden and available at another (undisclosed) location.
Focusing on disarming the subjects of a restraining order is simply wasting limited resources.
And then there is the whole problem with depriving someone of their rights before allowing them to confront their accusers and without a verdict from a jury of their peers.
Yup.
When has a violently abusive male ever needed a firearm to hurt or kill a female domestic partner? The imbalance of force is already in his favor.
For reference, a determined domestic abuser could assemble either of these with a half day’s work and less than $20 in materials from local hardware stores:
(1) A slam-fire single-shot 12 gauge shotgun constructed of 1 inch and 3/4 inch galvanized water pipe, a 1 inch galvanized cap, some epoxy, and a nail. (Requires only a hacksaw to cut away most of the length of the nail.)
(2) A wicked machete constructed of 1.5 inch x 1/4 inch x 24 inch steel flat stock and a roll of electrical or duct tape to fatten the handle. (Requires only a file to sharpen the steel flat stock, although a belt sander would sharpen that steel in a few minutes rather than a few hours with a file.)
(2) On sale at Walmart for $16.84 – no assembly required. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Whetstone-Cutlery-The-Brute-Super-Machete-22-75-Long/23848357
Mmm-hmmm…Or a lawn mower blade…Mmmm-hmmm. ~Karl Childers
Some folks call it a sling blade, I call it a Kaiser blade.
Governor,
This variant looks even more useful for $14.82:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Whetstone-Midnight-Ninja-Machete-with-Nylon-Carrying-Case/23848392?athcpid=23848392&athpgid=athenaItemPage&athcgid=null&athznid=PWVUB&athieid=v0&athstid=CS002&athguid=466001f5-1a689f1f-85bd4b8d45a253a7&athena=true
Governor,
By the way both of those builds illustrate how purchasing restrictions/bans on firearms and bladed weapons are futile in terms of an accused domestic abuser. There is nothing in the world that any court order can do when a person can simply purchase raw materials and fashion whatever they want.
why bother constructing anything? you can buy a cheap kitchen knife or a claw hammer at walmart or other stores for even less than the machete that the governor points out below. russia’s murder rate is higher than America’s even though normal citizens are essentially banned from owning real handguns, and i’ve read that kitchen knives are the most common murder weapon.
Not to make light of a tragedy but can we fit one more “C” in there.
The Day of the Helicopter can not come quick enough.
Aren’t these lib/prog legislators full of helpful ideas? DC (and almost every jurisdiction in this country) certainly has more than its share of them.
Funny, restraining orders usually come with a perimeter distance from a person or place. If the perp didn’t use a long range weapon to beat the distance requirement (in committing the crime) then people who possess even a slight amount of logical thinking will immediately jump to the factual conclusion THAT A RESTRAINING ORDER ONLY PROTECTS YOU ON PAPER, IF NOT BY THE HONOR SYSTEM.
It is a failure of the stupid MFs W R O N G F U L L Y claiming that they are / can protect you, as well as a failure of the stupid MFs that believe them.
Eventually this would apply to unpaid parking tickets.
Take their guns and they will murder their object of affection with a knife, hatchet, hands, feet, rope, chainsaw, propane torch, crowbar, hammer……..it would be far more effective to immediately sedate restrainees with Valium or strong marijuana for a week or two so they can reconsider their behavior.
“Strong marijuana” doesn’t sedate people. It’s not like you smoke a crap load and just become a vegetable. You might sleep, but you’ll wake up completely unscathed. There’s a reason is popular, and if it was legal, I guarantee it would be more popular than alcohol.
Retraining orders only work against rational respondents whom understand that there will be legal consequences for violating them. If they have nothing to loose, are determined to do violence anyway, or are so overtaken by their emotions, the restraining order doesn’t mean a can of beans to them. Here in WI, there are provisions for confiscating weapons for when the person on who receives the restraining order can be shown to be a danger to their victim. While this wont stop down a determined aggressor, it removes a tool (in theory) but again assumes that they will act like rational people. Which anyone who deals with domestic violence on a regular basis would be able to tell you is there are plenty of irrational abusers out there. All the more reason for would be victims to train and arm themselves and be vigilant.
And when they then kill with a knife…golf club…or other weapon?
Demorats hate you ladies…all I got😩😖😟😡
Now now….. they dont just hate the ladies….. they hate everyone and everything that doest think, look, and act like them. Reminds me alot of a guy who came to power in europe in the thirties and forties.
They dont want you to be able to defend yourself against their voting base. Make you dependent on the .gov for everything. And they want you to smile while the f*ck you every way they can.
Well now, I guess domestic abusers will simply give up their guns. And they certainly won’t think about other things like baseball bats or knives.
Trying to imagine how this works.
“Help, I feel like I am in danger from my partner, but not so much danger that I can call the police, or am willing to hide from them.”
“Great, we’ll issue a protective order right now. The crisis response SWAT unit will go bash in your door, toss the place, and seize all of the guns that we can find. Then we’ll hand your partner a piece of paper that tells them this action was because of you and that they need to vacate. Then you can go home and sleep by yourself in an empty house (possibly with a bashed in door) tonight. Sound good?”
“Yes, that sounds perfectly safe for me! There’s no way my partner will be enraged by the destruction of property, seizure of assets, lack of due process, and then take it out on me! After all, I totally trust them to follow the law around this protective order!”
Tell me how by taking guns from a person who has a protective order against them will prevent, in this case husband killing wife, if that is what he is going to do no matter what. Please Council member Mary Cheh you surely must have an answer! Stay safe. Dave
This all makes more sense when you remember that she’s not actually trying to save anyone. She probably doesn’t even care about taking guns away. She’s your standard dirtbag politician who wants to pretend to be doing something she can put in a (taxpayer-paid) mailer to her district.
so the guns get rmoved and she gets strangled to death or stabbed. but hey, much better than getting shot right? why are people so stupid?
Cheh supports SHORTER prison sentences for criminals despite the fact that domestic violence organizations show that north of 90%of domestic murder is committed by persons with prior arrest records.
The fact is that what raises the chance of a woman being stabled, beaten, shot or strangled to death by their partner is if she is dating a THUG. They don’t have registered or licensed guns