Repeal The Lautenberg Amendment
In July 1996 Senate Amendment 5083 to House Bill 2980 passed by unanimous voice vote. This amendment is now what we refer to as the Lautenberg Amendment. It prevents people with any ‘domestic violence’ convictions from ever owning a gun. The conviction could have occurred long before the passage of S.A.5083 and may have been a misdemeanor.
Over turning Lautenberg will not be easy. We know better, but the opposition will claim that we favor domestic violence. The concepts of ‘ex post facto’ and reasonableness are violated by this law. What we really favor is the Constitution.
http://www.petitiononline.com/658104/petition.html (open as of 08)
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/Lautenbergrepeal (closed)
http://www.gopetition.com/online/7723.html (closed)
Orginal date nov05Â Â Updated nov08
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I am all for the amendment. Bearing arms is a privilege just like driving. If you want to beat your wife like you have short man’s syndrome than you don’t need the right to have big boy guns.
I don’t agree. Beating up your wife is not even covered by this law. That’s a normal assault. We did not need a law to cover that. This law covers misdemeanors which are any argument. In some states any time a cop responds to a argument at your home you will be arrested for domestic abuse. The 2nd amendment does not allow you to lose your rights for a crime that is so minor that you do not even get a trial by jury. In fact a lower court in Louisiana has already ruled that this was unconstructional. It needs to be repealed.
how do you get this over turn
Domestic violence in the case of the Lautenberg amendment does not mean beating your wife. It could mean pleading no contest to looking at her sideways. Domestic violence is definitely a big problem but the laws are so screwed up and the burden of proof is on the man not the woman or the police. Many are convicted out of a wife’s spite. Men are attacked too and guess who goes to jail…The man does. If a person is not charged with a felony. If the proof is not suficient for a court to charge him with a felony. He should not lose any rights. Sure, if there is enough proof of a serious crime, OK. Felons should not carry guns. People who just want to leave the house because their wife is going nuts on them again; Are arrested because she thought it was a good way to control them; Pled no contest before the 1996 law was passed out of a desire never to see the woman in court or elsewhere ever again, SHOULD NOT LOOSE THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS.
Ratticus
Actually Bearing Arms is a right (one of the few people have) Driving is a priviledge. I would say a compromise is in order. Felony Domestic Violence offenders should lose the right. But for a misdemeanor that is crazy. If the problem rests in DV being a misdeanor then change THAT law. But let’s not go taking rights away.
OK, here I go. In 1994, i had an argument with my soon to be ex-wife. It was at MY HOME, not hers. She had come over, I guess, to argue. She started throwing things at me, and breaking things. I told her if she didn’t stop, “I’d slap her.” NO VIOLENCE except on her part. WHEN police arrived, she said I threatened her. I told them, she was wrecking my apartment. I was arrested for “making a threat” NO VIOLENCE. I had a PUBLIC DEFENDER who was unwilling to take it to trial. I had no jury. I was convicted. SHE laughed. 2 years later, LAUTENBERG takes away my gun rights, and I had to explain to my ARMY COMMANDING OFFICER, what happened. I then had to spend $2000 to acquire a lawyer and expunge my record. The law only made lawyers rich.I’m in a non-violent relationship now. AND MY GUNS haven’t shot anyone but IRAQI INSURGENTS.
MY ex-wife has been thru 2 more marriages and many boyfriends. OUR son, tells me of her fights with boyfriends and ex’s. He has since come to live with me.
Now, Since there are a few women on this board that are so intent on DENYING gun rights based on a MISDEMENOR conviction, don’t get upset when it comes back to bite you in the arse.
MY ex had a FIREMAN boyfriend. She attempted the same thing with him. UNFORTUNATELY for her, his buddies are COPS. THEY arrested her for slapping/scratching and throwing things at him. SHE now has that same misdemenor conviction and a lifetime ban. THAT is, unless she can have it expunged. Considering her spending habits, I doubt she’ll try. Lawyers cost too much.
THE RIGHT to Bear arms, if it could be taken away so easy, what do you idiots think could happen to FREEDOM OF SPEECH? ASSEMBLY? VOTING? Slippery slope. Do not think it couldn’t happen. It has. IN Canada, Australia, Japan, England. THEY have no more gun rights. AND now, in CANADA its illegal for a PRIEST to say, in church, that homosexuality is wrong. IT is ILLEGAL for a homeowner, in England, to use a baseball bat to defend his family home from thieves.
FINALLY, the Lautenberg amendment, according to the FBI Unified Crime Report (UCR) hasn’t decreased domestic violence, or deaths. It is just a liberal feel good law that makes Ted Kennedy happy.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/Lautenbergrepeal
http://www.gopetition.com/online/7723.html
HELP REPEAL THIS BAD LAW…..
I too am caught up in this bull —– And have found myself a the short end of the stick. Just enlisted in the Army guard for 6 years and they state I can not thouch a weapon( enlisted as a foot soldier for six years ).I am not able to go to military schools or to be premoted . Bottom line I spank my son for stealing, no bruses or marks, just false accusations. Pleaded no contest to save family face, However did not realize I was and am taking such a heavy toll. I still spank my son when he needs it. I am not an abuser. I am looking for any and all information available to me.
Calling some one a wife beater and saying its ok to take away Constitutional Rights over a misdemeanor Is insane. You can be convicted for domestic violence for just about any thing. Say your wife is breaking up the house and is out of her mind pissed off and she wants to pack up the kids and take off and drive 400 miles to her parents house at 3 a.m. and all you do is grab her by the wrist to stop her, or get in her way until she is calm enough to drive, thats domestic violence. This country is so out of control and if you can’t see that this is just a P.C. way to disarm a great number of Americans then you need to take a look around you and wake up! If somebody is mad enough to kill there mate , they don’t need a gun to do it. I wonder how many women get beat by men who don’t own guns? And how does dis arming someone make them a less violent person?
This probable sounds familiar like some of the other that i have read i myself am a 10 year veteran i was charged with domestic abuse assault in 2001. My ex-wife admitted that she lied about me hitting her and the case was dismissed, thrown out whatever you would like to call it. Here is where the military part comes in i was deployed to iraq from jan.-03 to apr.-04 during mobilization i brought this matter up to my co. and 1st sgt. they told me it was it was handled. I leave mob end up in iraq as a gunner providing security for convoys. i return home apply for a job as a police officer and am denied because of this DV charge. so i walk out of the PD go to the sherriffs office and apply for a handgun permit and got it, two weeks later i get something in the mail stating that i have to surrender my handgun permit for DV charge. so that having been said my question is WAS I OVERSEAS IN A COMBAT THEATRE OF OPERATION ILLEGALLY since the lautenburg is a federal law?
It is UNBELIEVABLE that EVERYONE who is “convicted” of a DV Misdemeanor loses their 2nd Ammendment rights! Many of these DV crimes are with average, everyday people who got too heated in a particular arguement. They are no more likely to go buy a gun and kill their spouse than the president is. Sure, maybe ban them for 2 or 5 years even – but for life? Even if they have lived 40 years without ANY problems with the law? Come on, your taking away a CIVIL RIGHT – not a driver’s license! Make the “abuser” complete ALL of their counseling and other treatment and probation. Have their spouse/partner issue a statement as to if they feel safe with this person owning a gun – but DON’T blindly put everyone in the same basket. The Courts are EXTREMELY slick at getting a Misdemeanor conviction without any evidence or jury. Here’s how they do it;
1) The accused is offered a “sweatheart” deal by the prosection to “defer” – if you complete the terms you will not be convicted – sounds great to anyone who doesn’t have a criminal background.
2) In the fine print it says that during your deferral (1 year) you can’t even be ACCUSED of ANY other crime (with the exception of traffic tickets) – NOT CONVICTED, ACCUSED. Even if you are later found innocent, if you are arrested/charged with ANY other crime (Jay Walking, etc.) you will be IMMEDIATELY found guilty of the original charge!
3) Amazingly enough, MANY people who have NEVER had ANY interaction with the law, find themselves getting charged and losing their deferral. Okay, that’s fine they lost their deferral, but NOW they have lost a CIVIL RIGHT and NEVER EVEN WENT TO TRIAL. THEY BASICALLY SIGNED AWAY THEIR CIVIL RIGHT.
Enough Already!
check out http://www.gunlawnews.com for more info on “Lautenbergs” lousy law. We can get this off the books if we can get everyone affected by this stupid law to get together.
its crazy. i under handed a phone at my ex-girl friend and she cought it, in front of the police they could’nt get me for anything else so guess whatt?
I think the Lautenberg Amendment is crazy. Like many other people have already commented on you can just about get convicted for domestic violence for the stupidest of things. I really have to agree with GRH said. Yeah most of the time these DV incidents are with average everyday couples. Its a party of marriage to have arguments now and then. Sometimes an argument gets a little to heated and words are said maybe even something was thrown. People at that point think with emotions and not logical, and more then likely a call is made and hear come our friends dressed in blue. Smack DV is given and we lose our right to own guns for life. I think depending on what happen in the DV it should be rated and you lose your right for so many years, but not for life.
yah wats wiht that its just some bs cus the court system doesnt like to micro manage and because women have a track record of being abused and naturally most cops are male and feel the need to be protective it screws male guys just like how black ppl can be racist but white ppl cant i gues we will have to take it for a few more hundred yrs until everybody realizes that they are equal and they dont have to try hard
I’m obviously not for it. I was 18 and I simply threw a remote at my mother in an arguement and it hit her in the back. Something that I look back on and I wish I had never done it. I’m 20 now and I cannot join the army because of the Lautenberg amendment but yet someone who has a felony cocaine possesion charge can join. Thats not right in my opinion. To me it should not include military or for that matter no exist or exist only for those who severely injured their family members and put them in the hospital. That I would understand but nothing else. I am not for family violence. There is evidence of a women who popped her child for discipline in public and got charged with family violence and now cannot own a gun. Thats not right. If you wanna make something that infringes on the 2nd amendment don’t make it so stupid on whats makes you classify under the amendment. Thats all I have to say folks.
The truth of the matter is that this act has been derived from pressure by the feminist movement and liberals. Domestic violence should be taken serious to an extent; however many times women cry domestic violence in order to get an order of protection to use as leverage in an dissolution of marriage so that they ca gain full custody of the children and/or alimony (maintenance). At other times, many women cry domestic violence to get even on their spouse or significant other. The male is always viewed as the aggressor no matter the circumstances involved. This act affects everyone male or female. It takes away an constitutional right indefinitely. Its no different than being handed a life sentence for something that is typically a minor occurrance or false allegation. Something must be done to strike this law down.
I encourage everyone who thinks the “Lautenberg Amendment” should be repealed to contact Your State Reps. and share your views. Also you can contact Rep. Virgil Goode who is a supporter of a repeal and has tried several times to have this law repealed. http://www.house.gov/goode/contact.shtml
I was arrested in the state of Louisiana for domestic violence. The female party involved was simultaneously arrested for domestic violence. We went to court and the case was dismissed. I had to go through anger management and pay a court “fee” as part of the agreement to have the case dismissed. My question is: can I still purchase a handgun?