While I’m the type who figures that if you’re too dangerous to exercise your gun rights responsibly, you’re too dangerous to be freed from prison, not everyone agrees with me. It’s cool. They have a right to be wrong.
That said, while I have my views, and I recognize that not everyone shares them, I’m also realistic enough to know that I’m in the minority and will take what I can get with regard to gun rights restoration.
In Tennessee, a bill takes a big step in that direction, though the usual suspects are already freaking out about it.
Advocates say stalking can be a warning sign before domestic violence, and that’s why a House bill is raising concerns about gun access for convicted abusers.
Part of HB 2064 allows people convicted of stalking or misdemeanor domestic violence to regain firearm rights after five years.
Jennifer Escue is the CEO at the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence.
She points to research showing stalking appears in many domestic homicides.
“Stalking is a crime that is connected with obsession and entitlement, and you see patterns escalate,” Escue said.
Now, let’s understand that stalking is never acceptable, but this would basically require those convicted of stalking to keep their nose clean for five years. That means they’re not escalating their troubling behavior.
See, one issue with stalking is that, yes, it can be a sign of obsession and entitlement, and often is. However, it can also be a sign of someone who has absolutely no idea about social cues and thinks he’s just pursuing a love interest in a productive way. Take autistic people, for example. While many get the message, either directly or from a third party, others may “mask” their lack of social skills by replicating the things they’ve seen on television and movies, and let’s be real here, some of those 80s teen movies reflected some pretty bizarre behavior that worked.
If someone was just clueless and crossed the line, then wised up and learned, thus keeping their nose clean, there’s no reason to continue punishing them indefinitely.
If they keep it up, though, then the time will restart with each conviction.
As for misdemeanor domestic violence, it’s kind of the same thing. Not that someone may be clueless and not realize they’re engaging in abusive behavior, necessarily, but some people might take a plea deal on something they didn’t do, just to make it all go away, not realizing that now they’re a prohibited person.
Even if they were abusive, if they learned from what happened and rehabilitated enough to keep their nose clean for five years, what’s the problem?
It’s weird how many of these folks look at felons, even violent ones, and talk about how we need to stop treating them like criminals, but then want to keep punishing people charged with misdemeanors the same as if they were serial killers. It’s nuts.
My hope is that we’ll see enough support for this that Tennessee passes it.
Despite the criticisms, there really isn’t a valid reason not to do it.
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