Drizzt
Member
News Observer (Raleigh, NC)
May 28, 2003 Wednesday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1
LENGTH: 815 words
HEADLINE: Domestic violence bill aims at guns
BYLINE: Lynn Bonner, Staff Writer
BODY:
Phyllis McEleney on Tuesday wore a pin to the General Assembly
bearing pictures of her daughter, Corda'e Shimira Lee, her
grandson Kendall Alexander Dianis and her daughter's friend
Valerie Gates.
Gates' father, Alan Douglas Gates, shot and killed them last
year in an Orange County house.
Janet Clark Gates, his wife, had obtained a domestic violence
order banning him from the house. But Alan Gates was waiting when
his daughter, Lee, and 2 1/2-year-old Kendall arrived there
unexpectedly -- and he had a gun. Now, he is serving three
consecutive life sentences for killing them.
"You can be so far removed from domestic violence, and it can
still happen to you," said McEleney, who lives in Raleigh.
She came to the state House to plead for a law requiring
defendants in some domestic violence cases to surrender their
guns.
"Remove the firearms, defuse the situation and allow people to
live a little longer," said Sen. Tony Rand, a Fayetteville
Democrat and the bill's sponsor. The bill has passed the Senate
and awaits action by a House committee.
The N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence counts 28
domestic violence homicides this year, at least 22 of them
committed with firearms.
The bill would require judges issuing domestic violence orders
to take guns and gun permits from the defendant if the defendant
had used a deadly weapon to threaten a child or the person
seeking the order, had threatened to seriously injure one of
them, had seriously injured them or had threatened suicide.
The bill also would give judges discretion to order guns taken
even if none of the four factors applied.
Sgt. John Guard, supervisor of the Domestic Violence
Prevention Unit for the Pitt County Sheriff's Department, said
judges in Pitt have been requiring law officers to seize firearms
in some domestic violence cases for more than six years. No one
has been killed with a gun in a domestic violence homicide in the
Pitt sheriff's jurisdiction since 1997, he said.
Chief District Court Judge David Leech said in a telephone
interview that judges require defendants to surrender guns when
"there's a threatened use of firearms alleged in the petition, or
where you find from the facts in the petition that the defendant
is in possession of the firearms and have reason to think that it
is a real and present danger to the victim."
Giving judges more power in such situations was the focus of
debate Tuesday in the House Judiciary IV Committee. The committee
did not vote on the bill.
Henri McClees, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association,
said the four defined reasons should be enough.
"When you have a very serious case, you're going to have one
of these four factors," she said. "You don't need to give
discretion to a judge."
Protective orders are sometimes used in divorce cases, said
McClees. "If you have a judge who simply does not like guns, he
could use this statute to take away property where guns simply
have nothing to do with the complaint," she said.
The gun-rights group Grass Roots North Carolina refers to the
bill on its Internet site as a "hidden threat" and asks readers
to send legislators e-mail opposing it.
Some of the emotions that infuse discussions about the broader
topic of domestic violence ran though the committee debate.
Rep. Beverly Earle objected to McClees' repeated use of the
phrase "a serious domestic violence case." Earle said all cases
of domestic violence are serious.
Rep. Joe Kiser, a Republican and former sheriff from Lincoln
County, had the most critical questions on the bill. He recounted
a story from his days as sheriff, when a woman called deputies to
her house every month to save her from a violent husband. As
deputies led the husband away, his wife would call to him,
promising to bail him out.
Kiser also objected to the assumption that all domestic
violence victims are women.
"There are two sides to this story," he said. "I had women who
beat their husbands and their husbands would not report it."
But it was the families of women killed by their partners who
were speaking up for the bill.
Helen Rogers' granddaughter, Cindy Lemons, was shot last year
outside the home they shared in Johnston County. She left three
young children -- the oldest was then 4. Lemons' estranged
boyfriend, Tarvaris Mickens, was charged with first-degree
murder. He pleaded not guilty.
Rogers told the committee about her granddaughter's
unsuccessful attempt to get a protective order against Mickens
the week before her death.
Afterward, she sat in the back of the room, wiping away tears.
"I hope and trust in the law," she said. "That was a lesson
for everybody to look at."
May 28, 2003 Wednesday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1
LENGTH: 815 words
HEADLINE: Domestic violence bill aims at guns
BYLINE: Lynn Bonner, Staff Writer
BODY:
Phyllis McEleney on Tuesday wore a pin to the General Assembly
bearing pictures of her daughter, Corda'e Shimira Lee, her
grandson Kendall Alexander Dianis and her daughter's friend
Valerie Gates.
Gates' father, Alan Douglas Gates, shot and killed them last
year in an Orange County house.
Janet Clark Gates, his wife, had obtained a domestic violence
order banning him from the house. But Alan Gates was waiting when
his daughter, Lee, and 2 1/2-year-old Kendall arrived there
unexpectedly -- and he had a gun. Now, he is serving three
consecutive life sentences for killing them.
"You can be so far removed from domestic violence, and it can
still happen to you," said McEleney, who lives in Raleigh.
She came to the state House to plead for a law requiring
defendants in some domestic violence cases to surrender their
guns.
"Remove the firearms, defuse the situation and allow people to
live a little longer," said Sen. Tony Rand, a Fayetteville
Democrat and the bill's sponsor. The bill has passed the Senate
and awaits action by a House committee.
The N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence counts 28
domestic violence homicides this year, at least 22 of them
committed with firearms.
The bill would require judges issuing domestic violence orders
to take guns and gun permits from the defendant if the defendant
had used a deadly weapon to threaten a child or the person
seeking the order, had threatened to seriously injure one of
them, had seriously injured them or had threatened suicide.
The bill also would give judges discretion to order guns taken
even if none of the four factors applied.
Sgt. John Guard, supervisor of the Domestic Violence
Prevention Unit for the Pitt County Sheriff's Department, said
judges in Pitt have been requiring law officers to seize firearms
in some domestic violence cases for more than six years. No one
has been killed with a gun in a domestic violence homicide in the
Pitt sheriff's jurisdiction since 1997, he said.
Chief District Court Judge David Leech said in a telephone
interview that judges require defendants to surrender guns when
"there's a threatened use of firearms alleged in the petition, or
where you find from the facts in the petition that the defendant
is in possession of the firearms and have reason to think that it
is a real and present danger to the victim."
Giving judges more power in such situations was the focus of
debate Tuesday in the House Judiciary IV Committee. The committee
did not vote on the bill.
Henri McClees, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association,
said the four defined reasons should be enough.
"When you have a very serious case, you're going to have one
of these four factors," she said. "You don't need to give
discretion to a judge."
Protective orders are sometimes used in divorce cases, said
McClees. "If you have a judge who simply does not like guns, he
could use this statute to take away property where guns simply
have nothing to do with the complaint," she said.
The gun-rights group Grass Roots North Carolina refers to the
bill on its Internet site as a "hidden threat" and asks readers
to send legislators e-mail opposing it.
Some of the emotions that infuse discussions about the broader
topic of domestic violence ran though the committee debate.
Rep. Beverly Earle objected to McClees' repeated use of the
phrase "a serious domestic violence case." Earle said all cases
of domestic violence are serious.
Rep. Joe Kiser, a Republican and former sheriff from Lincoln
County, had the most critical questions on the bill. He recounted
a story from his days as sheriff, when a woman called deputies to
her house every month to save her from a violent husband. As
deputies led the husband away, his wife would call to him,
promising to bail him out.
Kiser also objected to the assumption that all domestic
violence victims are women.
"There are two sides to this story," he said. "I had women who
beat their husbands and their husbands would not report it."
But it was the families of women killed by their partners who
were speaking up for the bill.
Helen Rogers' granddaughter, Cindy Lemons, was shot last year
outside the home they shared in Johnston County. She left three
young children -- the oldest was then 4. Lemons' estranged
boyfriend, Tarvaris Mickens, was charged with first-degree
murder. He pleaded not guilty.
Rogers told the committee about her granddaughter's
unsuccessful attempt to get a protective order against Mickens
the week before her death.
Afterward, she sat in the back of the room, wiping away tears.
"I hope and trust in the law," she said. "That was a lesson
for everybody to look at."
