News Connection Domestic Violence And Public Violence - Guns - Massacres

[prayingforpeace]

@Changeling
Ok I'll join in on topic.
I agree that no one convicted of misdemeanor DV or felony DV should have right to purchase any firearm. I do believe there should be rules as to who can purchase and stricter background checks if necessary.

My personal experiences re: DV and MY right to own/carry firearm,
I was in a very violent relationship for 7 years. I was suffering from Battered Woman syndrome. There had been police reports filed against my abuser a couple of times, but at the time it wasn't treated the same way it is now. If a woman didn't "press" charges, none were made. I learned eventually that if I pressed charges I would be in fear for my life.
One of the reasons I finally escaped was surviving an attempt on my life. He had REALLY been mad one evening and decided he was done with me. He filled a tub with water and forced me in it, and tied wet fabric around my neck and knotted it. He pulled that knot as tight as possible. Then he walked away. It took everything I had to get that knot untied before I passed out and wet fabric is very difficult to untie!
Anyway that's when I decided to leave. Most of us know that the most dangerous time for a battered woman is when she decides to leave for real. I moved from place to place asking those I knew to never disclose my location. That man found me anyway. He would show up at my jobs, outside of places I'd be and threaten me that he'd finish the job. He used his family to threaten me. It may be irrational but to this day I am still afraid of him. Over the years since I saw him last, he tried to talk to me on FB. Had to cancel that. Saw him out as well.

Women like myself, in my opinion should be able to take advantage of the right to protect ourselves from those that would harm. I had been beaten badly enough to know that I had no chance fighting him hand to hand. Ive been hospitalized after a beating. I am now disabled, unable to run or fight. I am a rape survivor as well. I feel that the only equalizer for me to be able to defend myself is a gun. I would not be able to defend myself any other way if someone truly wanted to harm me. I have a right to defend myself from serious bodily harm or death and I take that right seriously.

If I had to go to jail for defending myself against a man like him who was trying to rape/kill me I guess I would accept that. I will not be raped again if I can help it!

Does my life matter? Should I just accept my fate if he wanted to finish the job? I can't fight him. If we take the rights of law abiding citizens away, wouldn't that put more vulnerable people at risk of being harmed/killed? When the perp knows you have no way to defend yourself? I can promise you that it is very easy for a criminal to purchase a gun off the street.

Maybe this is not the situation you were speaking of but this is my take on how I feel about my 2nd amendment right.

I didn't want to put myself out there to be attacked because I suffer already from PTSD and feeling belittled and attacked is very traumatic. I decided to write this because I need to begin to express myself to know that my thoughts, opinions, feelings matter. I matter. I may not be as competent at citing case work or debating but I feel my opinion matters too.

 

[Deleted member 28740]

http://smartgunlaws.org/voisine-v-u...ession-for-those-convicted-of-domestic-abuse/
Case Information: Voisine v. U.S., No. 14-10154 (U.S. Supreme Court Brief Filed Jan. 26, 2016)

who's studies?

Ask the law firm bringing the case before the US Supreme Court where they get their studies from and how they are vetted.

Which side are you on? OK for a felon convicted of Domestic Violence to have a firearm. That is this particular court case. (not about WWII fire arms etc.)

 

[hodge]

Put a gun in a persons hand and face them with fear, then put a knife in a persons hand, face them with the same fear. See what a gun does vs a knife, being that the first they just have to pull the trigger and then explain fear, the second they have to actually fight with to get the same result. 99.9% of people will drop the knife and choose a different course than kill, compared to having a gun in their hand.

Exactly, Anthony. Thank you for articulating my long-term thoughts on this. It is much easier for killers to kill with a gun than by any other means. Hmm, except maybe bombs. For one thing, there's the simple but obvious factor of physical distance. A gunperson doesn't have to very close in proximity to their victim. They don't have to get their hands dirty. They don't have to physically have contact with the victim. Just pull a trigger, and with assault rifles, so much the easier and faster to kill more people than even with a little handgun.

I cannot conceive of any good reason these assault rifles should be available to anyone but law enforcement and military.

 

[hodge]

I don't personally believe the USA will ever change their 2nd amendment right to bear arms. It is just so engrained in the culture...

True.

"more guns may be the only solution to what is a gun crime epidemic. If every teacher, parent, adult walking around, is carrying a pistol on their belt... people would really have to second think firing a weapon in public, because just like Texas, you would have everyone around you with a pistol pointed at you, if not pulling the trigger if you fired once.

The point I wanted to make about this is that the laws are not effective as they stand. Most of the people who commit acts of mass shootings are mentally ill and should never have access to firearms. But there is this grand tradition in the US of gun shows where anyone and everyone can buy guns to their heart's content. Not to mention the black market. It's our gun culture. Make no mistake about it. We are a very violent culture. We also have good things about America, but this violence is epidemic and unknown and abhorrent elsewhere in the Western world.

When are we ever going to take a good, honest look at ourselves and what we all go through several times a year with these mass shootings?

 

[Deleted member 28740]

I agree that no one convicted of misdemeanor DV or felony DV should have right to purchase any firearm. I do believe there should be rules as to who can purchase and stricter background checks if necessary.

There are Rights and there are Privileges, and Responsibilities. What is the difference... between privileges and responsibilities? DUI for example. Florida took away the right of felons to vote. Background checks of substance equal to or better than required to rent an apartment is reasonable.

 

[Recovery4Me]

@Changeling post #53 is a vast topic concerning rights, privileges and that of responsibility. It is generally dabbled within the basic business law or prelaw classes. However, I found a good rule of thumb to a loose understanding is that infractions or negligence of responsibilities can often lead to being excluded from the privilege of _____(something like "driving" in our country). Our rights then being expressed as we get to make that all needed phone call for our rescue due to the consequences of the infraction or concern while we are being detained in custody. :clown:

Too simple of course but perhaps it helps.:hug:

 

[joeylittle]

@prayingforpeace - do you mind if I ask - when you got your gun for self-defense, did you do regular training with it at a gun range? Or, were you already a competent target shooter?

Please know - no judgement. I personally grow more and more concerned with the practical realities of freedom of gun ownership and concealed (and open) carry laws. I grew up hunting and target shooting, and continued to shoot regularily for a big chunk of my life. I wonder, sometimes, how many people end up with personal protection weapons and have little to no training in them.

And sometimes I think, if second amendment rights are just here to stay in the us - that criminals will always be criminals - but that some control issues could be more effectively shifted to individual responsibility level through license requirements, education, etc.

Just thinking out loud.

 

[GrayOwl]

Thank you all for stressing rights and responsibilities. There is a lot here I agree with.

I volunteer as a "chaperone" in my northern state to reintroduce felons back into society. I have to register and work for the state prison system to do so.

My current "ex-con" just finished doing 23 years of a 20 year sentence. Released every 5 years or so he got drunk and high within a couple weeks of release and robbed people outside of supper clubs at knife point or gun point to feed his addictions. He also found it easier to live inside the system - "three squares and a cot". No worries. By the way, this is a huge dude....scary guy.

This time he's been out 8 months. He's working. Mostly clean. Mostly behaves himself and workin' damn hard to do so. We go for coffee and shoot the breeze whenever I can. Life is pretty sucky for an ex-con but he's totally determined not to go back in this time. Why, I asked him?.....

Since the last time he was released Wisconsin passed the conceal carry law. To quote him exactly: "I can't rob people no more. They carry guns now. One of them crazy sonofabithces'll kill me. I ain't doin that no more."

He's finally afraid of somethin'. Genuinely.

Call it "deterrence". It may prevent a lot more victims from having to find this site after being robbed, knifed, shot, mugged, attacked, beaten....

 

[EveHarrington]

:)

Glad the dems are filibustering.

Maybe something will get passed!

Guns (are used to) kill people.

<Phrase fixed.>

Yes, I could use a million other methods to kill someone, but guns just make it so much easier! And let's face it. Americans are lazy ass people. Of course we're going to use guns as a weapon of choice for inflicting injury!

Buy a gun. (One step.)

Build a bomb. (Research how to build a bomb, buy bomb parts, and try to not blow myself up in the process-----ugh, this is too much work-----lemme just go buy a gun!)

-----------------

Everybody here who has seen my posts as of late knows I have a paranoia problem. Having said that, I'm actually thankful that it's a paranoia where I fear the psychological side of people. I have zero fears that would be lessened by ownership of a gun. I have zero fear of being physically harmed. I have zero desire to own a gun because I know a gun won't add anything positive to my life. But I do see this brand of paranoia in much of American society. And I actually feel sorry for the segment of American society that is victim to this type of paranoia.

 

[prayingforpeace]

@prayingforpeace - do you mind if I ask - when you got your gun for self-defense,...

@joeylittle,

I have in fact been shooting for close to 10 years at a range at least 10xper year, before I even applied for a concealed carry license. I had to take an 8 hour class and pass a shooting ability test to qualify. Not only am I competent with a handgun, I am also fairly accurate out to 100 yrds with long gun. Even though I have a license to carry concealed, I rarely do.

I have been trap shooting for several years and enjoyed the sport but lately am unable to do so due to back injuries. I also grew up in a hunting family and was shooting a bow by the age of 10.

 

[Anarchy]

I cannot conceive of any good reason these assault rifles should be available to anyone but law enforcement and military.

what "assault rifles"?

What are you calling an assault rifle?
is that what was actually used in any mass shooting?
and what is the difference between the rifle that was actually used, compared to semi auto rifles that have been available since the first decade of the twentieth century?

I've already posted links to the wikipedia page for the Remington model 8, available in America from 1906 and in Europe (as an FN Browning) from 1900, and also the Winchester model 1907.

 

[Anarchy]

Not to mention the black market.

how do laws stop a black market?
how many decades has the united state been "fighting" the "war on..." drugs and goodness knows what else

how many billions have been spent, how many homes raided in the wee ssmall hours? how many people caged, how many people killed, and how many families torn apart as part of that war?

how many children, wives and girlfriends have been rented out or used to pay off debts to the criminals who move in whenever prohibition happens.

is "victory" in sight for the "war on drugs"
what would that victory even look like?

I suggest that gun laws will never stop a black market in guns - even the death penalty and mass killings and deportations (both by the tens of millions) in the Soviet Union, China and other socialist commonwealths didn't stamp out the black market in guns.