Domestic violence abusers could get gun rights

I understand why people don't want violent criminals to have guns... and they don't. I was charged with harassment against my fiance because with got into an argument. I can now no longer own guns or hunt because of an argument. Im sure some of you could understand that I am a little upset about this. I have NEVER hit a women. So now in the middle of the night if someone breaks in to our home I have to use my hands to try and save my life, my fiance's life and if we have kids, our kids life. Yet thugs and gang members can still buy guns with shaved serial #'s and go around killing people the same as they always do, but I cant protect myself or my family or put food on our table by hunting. I think everyday I become less and less patriotic.... Awesome job America!

O.K. protecting women is right to do. The right to own a gun is vital to protecting our freedoms. Evey attempt that legislators make to limit who can poses a gun is always for our safety or in response to a tragic event. The government will soon be able to tell us who is mentally fit to own a gun by what ever crazy standard they determine acceptable.

A domestic violence can charge can be issued even if there is no physical abuse. Giving politicians power over our right to own fire arms weakens our ability to have the final say in our state/country. The reason we poses guns is not for hunting or home defense, it is to protect our rights and freedoms from the government. We should enforced the laws we have and stop creating any new laws that threaten our freedoms.

Who does not want to protect women and children. Vote for freedom, question authority, and never give up your guns.

the law should stay as it once was. If you are convicted of a felony, you can't own a gun. Obviously someone who beats the crap out of his g/f or wife deserves to be a felon. But there are thousands of people in my boat that did nothing wrong and still have a dv on their record. If someone beats their spouse up it should be a felony and they should lose their gun rights. But in the cases like mine where a person didn't touch their spouse or a spouse lied about a "beating", that should be a misdemeanor and gun rights should still be available. I know for a fact that woman only have to SAY that their man touched them and their man gets a DV charge. That is not right.

And people that say that a domestic violence charge is a "violent crime" are ridiculous too. You can get charged with a DV for a simple argument where no one gets touched/hurt. So if I yell at someone I should lose my gun rights? yeah right. This is taking away the constitutional rights every American deserves.

This ban on the rights of people owning guns just because of a domestic violence conviction is absurd. I can understand in a case where a guy actually beats his g/f or wife up. But me, for instance, never touched my g/f. As a matter of fact she was the one attacking me and I called the police. Since she had marks on her arms from me restraining her, I was also taken to jail. I had noone to bail me out and didn't want to sit in jail 3 months waiting for the trial so I plead no contest and got time served. I never beat anyone and am not a violent person at all. There is no reason what-so-ever I shouldn't be able to own a gun legally or be a police officer. This law is ridiculous and needs to be repealed.

Well boo hoo to all you bleeding heart liberals!Do you realize how many women have been the first one to throw a punch or a blunt object at the man,yet it's the man who's found guilty on the spot of the domestic violence charge?
There is something fundamentally flawed with a law that finds that individual guilty of a misdemeanor crime yet cannot ever own a firearm for the rest of his life and will be charged with a FELONY if caught doing so?

Just because a man has been found guily of a misdemeanor of DV doesn't mean he is the bad guy or that he was going to serious harm to someone with a firearm.You can hurt someone just as bad with an iron,garden rake or shoe;what are you going to do then?Outlaw garden tools,household appliances and clothing?

There is no reason for someone to have to forfeit their civil rights due to something such as this. The problem with the Lautenbberg Amendment is the same problem with the court system generally, no real proof in these cases need be presented. Many jurisdictions have a law that requires, no discretion, an arrest when evidence of physical trauma exist. A woman, or a man, can attack their spouse, get hit in self defense, and then the agressor becomes the victim and complainant. This happens all the time. I've seen it happen. Victims lie, the police and prosecutors just want to clear the docket and the suspect is plead out to avoid the trial but looses his civil rights in the process. This will also happen in many states if a person gets into a fight anywhere, even self defense, but is arrested. He will loose his 2A rights for this also.

Everyone needs to remember that guns may not necessarily be involved in the assault.

On another issue, if the government takes the guns, the now criminal is not compensated in any way in violation of the Fifth Amendment.

As an aside, the Brady Bunch Act requiring a waiting period has, as a matter of record, resulted in deaths by abused spouses who are waiting the mandatory "cooling off" period. The other half returns to do them violence and there is no way for the victim to defend themself.

This is a way for Lautenberg to establish more back door gun control. It is the government being part of the problem but not the solution and couching the argument as a panacea. Dishonest but that is the government. I think this is a Consittuional violation and encourage all to ignore it.

Those in favor of this may want to ask themselves on which side of the argument are they in the debate over restoring a felons civil rights.

I support gun rights, but I do not support giving guns to ANYONE convicted of a violent crime.

THE FLAW IN THE LAW NEEDS TO BE CORRECTED. TOO MANY WOMEN LOSE THEIR LIVES EACH YEAR THRU GETTING CAPPED BY A 9MM. ALSO THINK OF THE CHILDREN THAT ARE LEFT WITHOUT A MOTHER.

I worked for years in a domestic violence shelter.I have seen hundreds of women and children as well who were threatened by guns as well as having guns actually used on them by an abusive husband, boyfriend, father.I have seen women and children live in fear of showing their face outside in case that man would find them and use a firearm.I have attended funerals of those whose fears were realized.It is difficult to imagine the heartbreak of a child who has hidden for days with his mother in an abandoned garage while his father hunted him and his mother, this happened not once but to several families. Guns and domestic violence. I would love to introduce that judge to those women and children, especially the children.

It seems people believe that everyone should have gun rights, but when you introduce the psychotic neighbor who may unexpectedly show up at your door-step with a glock in his hand, minds start swaying.

I am a survivor of domestic abuse. I think that if you had a gun put between your eyes, like I did, you would be a just a little hesitant to ok abusers having guns of any kind EVER!

There is definately a middle ground here. We live in a world with guns, and that is not about to change anytime soon. My parents are both NRA members and my father was in the military; he has many guns and taught me how to use them on the shooting range (which was a lot of fun! I don't consider it a "messed up hobby" at all, it's about developing a skill just like any other hobby.) My mom used to tell me she was a pacifist "until she had a child". There are reasons for guns, and someone mentioned before that we are not all "on an even playing field", which is so true.

However this is clearly a loophole, as they put it, a "flaw in the law" that needs to be fixed. There is NO REASON for domestic abusers to own a gun. If you show poor judgement in handling yourself and you can't even control your own body, you should not be allowed to own a gun.

An aging law meant to help separate the state from government has served it's purpose and must now retire as nothing more than protectionism for the fearful and weak.

Time to look at what the amendment has truly given the people of America. Paranoia.

Truly though, what is a gun good for save shooting at a target? Fucking messed up hobby if you ask anyone with common sense.

Its the Plea Bargaining system that needs to be changed & probably why Randy Hayes got to plea guilty to a misdemeanor. I don't know the case, but i know cases like them.. IF the Officers did not charge him with a felony when he was arrested, then the officers need to find a new line of work, & the DA should have upped the charges.

Either way... political correctness does not equal common sense anymore. Maybe it never did, & i've been walking around with my eyes closed most my life.

If someone would beat his wife & or child the way Hayes beat his wife, common sense tells you (Me anyway) he has a anger control issue, & we see almost twice a week on the news what happens when you have someone with anger control issues fighting with a family member with a gun in the house. All i can say to these judges is... "DAH"

PS.. I am not a gun control advocate. I own guns, & have taught both my boys how to handle & shoot rifles & hand guns. I believe in the 2d amendment, but for JEEPERS sakes.. Lets use common sense.

Here in Colorado, to purchase a weapon, one must pass an instant background check through the CBI(Colorado Bureau of Investigation).

Anybody who has been convicted of domestic violence, drug charge, of course anyone convicted of any felony or anyone deemed mentally unstable and various severe misdemeanors cannot make the purchase.

I just wish these kind of standards existed for auto owners.

Ride on!

Scalia made a great point that I wholeheartedly agree with. Anyone that beats their wife and kicks her while she’s on the ground should be a felon and should either spend a considerable amount of time in prison, or should be forced to enroll in an effective anger management program. Imposing a fine and removing the right to own a firearm is a slap on the wrist that does nothing for society or the victim of that crime.

Its also completely ridiculous that anyone capable of such a disgusting act would show any respect to the law. So in the end stripping that individual of his right to own a firearm through a special clause instead of treating him like the felon he is would mean absolutely jack since he’s already capable of beating the living crap out of someone. All in all if you’re a misdemeanant you made a mistake and if you’re a felon you need help.

Buy em a half rack of bud while you're at it.

Guns are not to be part of the society of the world, it promotes nothing but crime, and more killings....if there really is such a thing that is protection of yourself, it could only mean hand-to-hand combat; time to go Street Fighter!

Why am I not surprised this happened in the South? How fucking sick is this.

Odd to read this from the LA Times the same day that I read the sheriff of LA County has issued a rule that off-duty deputies cannot carry guns because too many of them have been brandishing their guns while publicly drunk. Ironic, but definitely not ha-ha.

Me too Brandbla!

I think anyone who has been convicted of a violent crime should not be allowed to have a gun and that includes domestic violence.

I believe in the second amendment but, I don't think people who have been convicted of violence should be able to own one.

I guess when it comes to domestic violence, Scalia's motto is: "When at first you don't succeed,..."

Gun control, believe it or not is also one of those issues that have me in the throes of indecision.

I should not have trouble deciding, but I do.

My brother is a police officer. Lots of domestic violence on his job. I can't wait until he retires, just a couple of years left and done.

Kids in high schools committing huge acts of violence against other students. It makes me very upset and I yell about people having guns...then I wonder who in the hell gave them guns?

I know people who use them to supplement their food stores, they'd be lost without them. Meat is very expensive and many families here have trouble making ends meet. I don't want to deny anyone the ability to feed their families. Ever.