Saturday, 19 September 2009

The Politicization of Ms Ross's Tragic Death

Amanda Ross's death was a tragedy. It is always sad to see a young life extinguished unnecessarily early. My prayers go out to her family.

But what annoys me is when people politicize the poor woman's death to take away more of my constitutional freedoms. First up is House Speaker Stumbo and his horrible idea to make those under a domestic violence orders to wear an ankle bracelet.

Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo pledged Wednesday to propose legislation named for Ross that would allow a judge to require those with a domestic violence order against them to wear an ankle bracelet that tracks their whereabouts.
"No other state has ever done that," Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said in an interview after attending Ross's funeral Wednesday afternoon. Stumbo is a family friend.
During the funeral, Ross family friend Dale Emmons, a Democratic political consultant, implored the audience of several hundred to support Stumbo's legislative effort.
"In the spirit of Amanda's political activism, we are presented with a unique opportunity," Emmons said. "We should work to immediately improve public law providing new and innovative protection of other victims of domestic abuse and violence."

In addition Dem Rep Jenkins and Dem Rep Marzian want to restrict domestic violence offenders who own guns.

Meanwhile, Democratic Reps. Joni Jenkins and Mary Lou Marzian of Louisville said Wednesday they are preparing a proposal that would make life tougher for domestic violence offenders who own guns.
Although a federal law now prohibits domestic violence offenders from possessing a firearm, only one county in Kentucky routinely makes them turn over their guns. In Jefferson County, those offenders have 24 hours after their court hearing to turn in their guns to the Sheriff's Department....
..."The priority to protect women's lives is greater than the constitutional right to bear arms," said Bowles, a national domestic violence expert who served on a statewide domestic violence task force with Nunn in 1991. "But it has really been a struggle because a lot of judges work to circumvent the laws because of their own personal views."

Am I the only one who thinks both of these ideas are ridiculous. That these politicians took the wrong less from the tragedy. Before Nunn brutally murdered Ms Ross what crime did he commit? He was NEVER convicted of a crime before a jury of his peers. Yet these idiot politicians want to take away people's rights BEFORE they commit a crime. People should not have their 2nd amendment right or any right denied them just because someone filed a restraining order against them. Such a concept is ludicrous! If these offenders have beaten the victim then convict the offender of assault and put then in jail! But don't take away their rights before they have been convicted of a crime.

I know my stance won't be popular with many including domestic violence advocates. I can already hear them.
How could you be so heartless? Shouldn't we protect these poor defenseless people from these violent animals? The answer is yes to an extent. We can provide them with legal protection if the violent offender breaks the restraining order, but otherwise no. It should be incumbent upon the person who filed the order to defend themselves! We shouldn't be misleading people into believing they are safe just because they have a protective order.

I get the fact that these people didn't intentionally date or marry a violent person. But we shouldn't be deluding them and telling them that the "nanny state" will take care of them. Instead we should be encouraging these people to take responsibility for the situation they are in and learn how to defend themselves. Your life is your most precious commodity and if you can't do something to protect yourself from potentially violent people, then why should we care about attempting to provide you any protection?

Here is my suggestion for helping the victims of domestic violence. I think the state should provide free self protection training services for those who succesfully gain a restraining order. Secondly, I think the government should provide a tax rebate for any gun purchased by the same individual. In addition the state should provide training and expidite the process for them to obtain their concealed carry permit. This would be a hell of lot more effective than wasting tax payer money on taking away law abiding citizen's rights.