by My friend Rob at the SlowFacts blog had a story Sunday about a trainer in Reno, NV who provides free firearms training classes to anyone who has a signed protective order.
Actions speak volumes about a person, and that is why I’m impressed with Vicki Kawelmacher. Vicki is a firearms instructor in Reno, Nevada. She specializes in teaching women. She offers free classes to students who have a signed protective order. A protective order, also called a restraining order in some other states, means these students convinced a judge there is a serious threat to them or their children. These students to learn self-defense right now. Vicki has been in that position with an attempted abduction of her daughter. Vicki knows that a piece of legal paper is ineffective without a means to back it up.
He proposes that local gun clubs, ranges, and other such organizations establish scholarship funds for those in immediate need of training and who have limited means. I agree fullheartedly with Rob that this would a charity I’d love to support. As Rob say, ” If we really advocate responsible self-defense, then we should donate and volunteer to make that happen without asking instructors to teach for free.” It’s great that Vicki Kawelmacher is doing what she is doing but we as a community should make it so that she and others like her don’t have to assume the burden.
I think Rob’s idea is one that we should encourage.
I'm glad to hear you feel that way. It meshes well with an idea I'm working on in Chicago.
That IS a damn good idea!!! Too bad they can't also 'donate' a gun to them also!
The overwhelming majority of "protective orders" in this country are nothing more than a cynical, deliberate tactic used to gain a slam-dunk advantage in a divorce proceeding!
It gives her INSTANT victory – she gets the house, the car, the kids, and… and… and… – and sets up a "visitation schedule" wherein Dad gets every-other-weekend, if he's lucky…
By the time he finally gets a court-date (six to 12 months down the road – coincidentally the life of nearly all "protective-orders") this precedent has become an established routine which most judges will never change, citing "stability is in the best interest of the child(ren)!"
At least 3/4 of all divorces are filed by women, and the reason they most often cite is "we've just grown apart…"
The poor guy goes to work one morning and is met by police, who tell him that he's not allowed to go home, he's just been made a "visitor" in his kids' life, and they'll be taking most of his paycheck to pay for all the things he's no longer entitled to enjoy. It's usually later that he realizes this also means he won't be able to afford the sort of lawyer he'll need to fight this sickness…
If he's lucky, they MIGHT have a couple cops escort him to his house so he can pack a suitcase, otherwise he's usually left with – LITERALLY – the clothes on his back and the cash in his pocket.
It should be no surprise to anyone that tragedies sometimes happen – the only thing surprising is that they're not more common! After all, when you take away everything that matters to a man, he MIGHT just act as if he's got nothing left to lose!
Protective orders need to be reserved for cases with a demonstrable history of violence. "Well no – he's never done anything to me, but I'm afraid he MIGHT" (a statement GUARANTEED to get her an RO in any court in our land!!) should *NOT* be good enough!
It's clear that the commenters preceding me have never had the joy of getting intimate with our F_M_L_ (is that fAmIlY or fEmAlE?!) court system…
Damn near every person alive knows SOME good guy who got utterly RAPED by some vindictive bitch wielding the full power of The State to punish him for disappointing her in some way – but for some reason we always think He's the exception rather than the rule…
The REALITY is that most "abused women" are in reality just as abusive and violent (a majority are MORE violent!) than the men they say are "abusing" them.
Don't take my word for any of this – do your own homework!
Search the net for "restraining order abuse" or "Protective order abuse." Look up Erin Pizzey (founder of the first "battered women's shelter") and learn what SHE learned! Check out Fiebert's studies on "domestic violence."
The truth is right there – in plain sight – but we're all too "programmed" to see it!!
As a legally oriented (lots of friends in the field) feminist friend put it to me in the late '80s, it's legal malpractice to not be the first to get a "protective order" against the other side in a divorce.