The Supreme Court Must Protect Domestic Violence Survivors By Overturning The Rahimi Decision

Melody McFadden calls on the Supreme Court to revoke a lower court’s order regarding domestic violence. This reversal would allow people subjected to domestic violence restraining orders to keep guns.

Read on to delve into the nitty-gritty of the judgment, how women and their families suffer from the abusers, Melody’s aggrieving story, and more. In case you need any legal consultation, you may approach a Denver domestic violence defense lawyer.

In one of the instances, Melody says that her mother, Patricia Ann, used to be brutally abused and ill-treated by her dating partner. He used to gruesomely beat her in front of their three younger sisters, who were teenagers, and the domestic violence that their mother was subjected to every day used to make them feel paralyzed.

One day, the abusive guy killed Melody’s mother using a sawed-off shotgun. She mentions that the man was a convicted felon and actually shouldn’t have had access to the firearm with which he killed Melody’s mother. She says that in the years when the beatings, bruisings, and hospitalizations continued relentlessly, people used to ask her,” Why didn’t she just leave?”.

She says it’s only the survivors of domestic violence who can understand the emotional trauma that they undergo, besides a number of other factors that deter them from leaving.

One of the primary reasons that Melody cites is that the women undergoing domestic violence are often concerned about what would be the fate of their children if they leave the abusers and fear that this might put them at greater risk.

A judgment by a three-judge panel of the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stated in the case United States Vs Rahimi that federal prohibition of possession of guns by people undergoing domestic violence restraining orders is unconstitutional. If you wish to know the legal side of the case in-depth, you may seek the guidance of a Denver domestic violence defense lawyer.

Melody believes that this decision is detrimental to the women and families living in the Fifth Circuit, who may be seriously in trouble with their abusers if the ruling is not reversed. The million-dollar question that confronts the Supreme Court is whether it would side with the extremist judges in the Fifth Circuit or empathize with the vulnerable women and their families.
Certainly, the Supreme Court must take the decision in the best interests of the women, keeping in mind that their lives are at stake.

Based on her experience and close work with domestic violence survivors, she strongly feels that getting a restraining order is no piece of cake. A lot of struggles and hardships have to be fought. That said, Melody adds that, especially in the case of the domestic violence survivors in the Fifth Circuit in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi, there are increased feelings of uncertainty on whether they would ever be protected in the near future.

Melody mentions that it must go without saying that if survivors get a restraining order against the abusers, then the latter must not have the privilege to use or buy a gun. She says that she isn’t against someone keeping guns, for she herself is an Army veteran. However, guns must be held by the people who intend to protect others and not someone who brutally murders like the man who killed her mother.

Melody says that in the years following her mother’s murder, she realized the chances of women with abusive partners having guns increased severely. Besides, the presence of a gun at home makes the abusers exert coercive control and increase domestic violence while inflicting emotional torture on the women, even if they don’t actually use their weapons.

At present, common sense gun safety laws are those that protect women from domestic abuse. They are also among those that receive the strongest support from Americans. As of now, the recent opinion impacts the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. A lot of victims out there are silently undergoing domestic abuse and are living under the fear of when their partner will pull the trigger. If the ruling is not reversed, only God knows how many more poor women would be living in a situation tantamount to their death.

Melody adds that at the moment, the Supreme Court must overturn the unjust decision and that until then she won’t stop fighting. That’s because she is one among the many who believe that no one is entitled to live or die in the hands of an abuser.