Posted on 05/04/2014 11:14:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A year after a modest proposal to change gun laws failed in the Senate, Connecticut Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy have switched tactics.
They plan to introduce a bill that would forbid anyone under a temporary restraining order from owning a gun.
“It’s just common sense that someone who is the subject of a temporary restraining order shouldn’t be able to buy a gun,” Murphy said.
Under current federal law, those under permanent court orders are barred from owning firearms, but not those under temporary court orders.
Blumenthal said that those under temporary court orders, often imposed when there’s a threat of violence, can be the most dangerous.
“That period is the height of vulnerability,” Blumenthal said. “That’s the point when violence is the most likely.”
The bill would require those under court order to surrender their weapons to law enforcement officials.
The Connecticut senators unveiled their legislation after meeting with former Rep. Gabrielle Gifford, the victim of a shooter who killed six people in a shopping center in Tucson, Ariz., and domestic violence policy advocates.
They collected 30,000 signatures on a petition the senators planned to take to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to prod him, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to hold a hearing on the new gun bill.
Leahy held hearings on several proposals introduced after Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
Leahy also helped craft a compromise bill that was considered by the Senate a year ago. The bill was modest -- it would have expanded FBI background checks of gun buyers to those who purchase weapons at gun shows and online. But the bill failed to win the 60 votes it needed to move forward.
Since that bill is stalled, Murphy said he and Blumenthal chose to promote the new gun bill.
An aide to Leahy said he is considering the request and plans to hold a hearing on the Violence Against Women Act in June.
"Congresswoman Giffords requested Senator Leahy hold a hearing on the issue of gun violence and violence against women, and he was of course happy to take this request," said a Judiciary Committee aide .
Blumenthal called the legislation “narrow, discreet and common sense.”
He also said he is talking to GOP senators about the bill “and they are listening.”
“They are beginning to understand the political ramifications of sitting on the sidelines,” Murphy said.
Murphy also called Congress “complicit” in the recent rash of shootings because it has done nothing on gun control.
With Congress stalled on gun control, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has launched a $50 million campaign that aims to make the political climate more supportive of gun control. The money would be used to form a group called Everytown for Gun Safety, an umbrella organization for his two other gun control groups: Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
The Bloomberg campaign is taking a page from the playbook of the National Rifle Association by trying to build grass-root support while it tries to influence politicians with advertisements and political donations.
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Ana Radelat
Ana is a longtime Washington correspondent who has won numerous awards, including from The Associated Press and Gannett, has written for more than a dozen newspapers, including USAToday; The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger; the Shreveport (La.) Times; and the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser. She’s also been a regular contributor to other publications, including the Miami Herald and Advertising Age. Some of the stories Ana has broken focused on the strategies of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former Sen. Trent Lott’s fall from power and questionable Hurricane Katrina contracts. A regular contributor to WNPR, Connecticut Public Radio, a partner of The Mirror, Ana is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Journalism.
These guys are going to keep playing with fire until they get severely burnt. They sure are tone deaf to what the citizenry is saying.
Oh, well. I guess you really can’t fix stupid and CT seems to have plenty on hand.
Restraining orders are handed out like candy. NO infringement of inalienable rights without due process over commission of a crime...
So when will there be introduced “common sense” speech control?
Soon I bet.
These idiots can’t wait to go full gestapo.
You mean like the Sterling punishment for comments he made in private in his own home? The Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) and SS Sicherheitsdienst (SD) dealt with a disarmed populace, these guys don’t have that luxury.
“Common sense” again. I wish these idiots would find another buzzword. This “common sense” legislation means that you have the right to own firearms until some judge says you don’t for whatever reason. Lovely. The next thing they’ll be investigating is how to place an entire state under a restraining order.
Yes, quite.
They really don't care what the citizenry say regardless how vociferous the outcry. They are leftist, statist types and believe they truly are our overlords. In their twisted minds, we must abide with their wishes and show gratitude for their benevolence.
Boy, are they going to be surprised!
That train nearly missed him, can we try that again?
So if you want to rob someone’s house, file a complaint that results in a temporary restaining order. These are easy to get.
Make sure you have an alabai, or someone who can vouch for your presence elsewhere.
Then rob the recently disarmed house.
I don’t see what a TRO has to with owning a gun.
I have a friend who was under a TRO for Domestic Violence and was found innocent.
He then went through the process of having his record expunged.
Cost him $40k.
The wench got no charges and it essentially cost her nothing to make a bogus charge.
> Restraining orders are handed out like candy. NO infringement of inalienable rights without due process over commission of a crime...
And you can bet restraining orders will be handed out like candy with no regard as to the truth of the allegations or not if the bill is signed into law....
I’m sure that the Democrat Senators that are fighting for their lives would JUST LOVE another round of gun control to debate.
I have a friend that works on cases where people have been put in jail for years based on false revenge charges, all filed by women who file them all the time and get men placed into prison for years. He’s gotten some women to recant their charges and admit they lied. None of the women that I know of have been punished for itor been prosecuted for filing a false police report which us only a Class B misdemeanor which I think is a load of crap because it means they will probably only get probation. I think they need to reclassify and redefine that as a different crime with a felony rating and mandatory jail time if they are found guilty. Maybe rename the charge as “false filing of a police report for malicious intent”. Many of the guys I’m talking about have spent 5 or more years in prison because of them. I know of 3 men that have been in for many years becaus an heiress didn’t want to wait for her inheritance and cooked up a scheme to extort her father by pretending to be a kidnap victim and had the 3 guys in on the plan and promised to give them a very small cut. Well the plan backfired when her father wouldn’t pay the ransom and the police got involved so she lied and said they kidnapped her and sent them to prison. The police wouldn’t listen to them because they were Hispanic (probably because they couldn’t understand them. They were all young and stupid and now they’re serving time. The girl won’t recant her story either so they are going to rot in jail.
Yeah, that’s pretty much how my aunt’s brother was killed. His wife had an order of protection issued against him, which, under Maryland law, disabled him from owning a gun. After his firearms were confiscated, she put a hit out on him.
Step two towards confiscation.
I believe their information is simply false.
If a person is under a restraining order for domestic violence, they are not allowed to possess firearms or ammunition.
Connecticut citizens... vote smart or STAY HOME!!!!
When I was a married man - that is, with just a few months left to endure as a married man - my wife’s boyfriend took out a restraining order against me that was a marvel of mendacity. Nary a fact in it. But the document accused me of a host of felonious behavior - up to and including attempted murder. Of course a restraining order is like a lawsuit. Any one can sue anybody for anything, just as I could take out a restraining order against my neighbor for absolutely no reason other than the fact that I’m a sociopathic jerk. The thing will be filed, regardless of its merit. And, presto! Bye bye firearms (under this latest gun grab maneuver).
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