T. C. Allen wasnÂ’t supposed to have a gun. A Dallas County court forbade it last year as part of a family violence protective order against him, but no one forced the 27-year-old Dallas man to turn over his 9 mm handgun. Just weeks later, he says, he used it to go on a deadly shooting spree. The Dallas Morning News found that judges and police routinely fail to enforce laws that prohibit certain domestic abusers from having firearms, leaving the victims and the public at risk.
Easier to ban guns so the law-abiding citizens won't have those dangerous shooty-things.
Dallas County officials say the firearm ban is difficult to enforce because of holes in the law. The News found, however, that the countyÂ’s failure to adopt a gun-removal program reflects its own inaction. Judges, police and politicians here have long been fumbling for solutions as other counties found ways to enforce the law.
They gotta pass laws that are self-enforcing - like the 55 mph speed limit, fer instance!
A Dallas County Assistant District Attorney, who oversees the family violence division, likened the countyÂ’s current gun-removal strategy to telling her children they canÂ’t have a cookie: It works only until she turns her back.I never sole cookies behind my Mother's back - she counted 'em!
“I don't think our current system has enough teeth in it,” she said.
Count the cookies, sweetheart! The answer isn't more Mothers!
Other communities in Texas had to confront the same questions and qualms as Dallas County when they decided to take guns away from abusers. But they worked through them once they made confiscating firearms a priority, said the public policy director for the Texas Council on Family Violence.
Under federal and state law, it is illegal for convicted domestic abusers and subjects of protective orders to possess firearms, with certain exceptions for police and the military.
But the law doesnÂ’t say who should confiscate the guns, leaving some judges and police hesitant to enforce it.
Now if we had universal handgun bans, they could be enforced!