Domestic Violence Abusers and Their Gun Rights
We live in a rural area where many homes have guns in them. In a lot of my interactions with clients, we discuss guns. When I am assisting someone in obtaining a Protection from Abuse order, we talk about whether s/he wants to request the court order the Defendant’s guns be relinquished to the sheriff. When I am discussing the Lethality Assessment Program with police departments, we talk about the greater likelihood of homicide when guns are present in the home. The “right to bear arms” is a hot topic in this area. It seems to be common sense that if a person has been identified by the court system as a domestic violence abuser , s/he should not be allowed to own a gun. However, this was recently challenged at the Supreme Court of the United States. The central issue in this case was whether abusers who commit crimes of domestic violence recklessly should lose their rights to own guns in the same manner as those...