Yup, a family court judge (Judge R.M. (R)) decided that I am not allowed to have firearms in my home. Her reasoning was that my 13 year old son (who I've had custody of for over 4 years now) can probably get into a gun safe if he wanted to and hurt himself or someone else. If that happened, the judge's face would be on TV.
Let me start by saying I have no criminal record, never been arrested or suspected of any crimes, no history of drug or alcohol abuse and no mental illness either now or in the past. I have a handgun carry license, have been raised around firearms and have personally owned my own firearms for 18 years now.
Background:
Me and the ex wife got divorced when my son was a year old. She had custody of him till 2006, when he was 9 years old. She was a horrible mother and the court and custody evaluators all agreed and granted me sole custody of our son. She never defended her parenting, or lack of it, but rather just tried to make the court believe that I was a danger to our son's mental and physical safety. One thing she would consistently bring up was that I owned firearms. She would lie and say that I left them all out where the child could get to them and even said that I allowed the boy to play with live ammunition. This was all found to be false and the guns were inspected (In the 2 gun safes I own) several times and found to be stored properly.
That is the short version. The point of this is that the judge ordered that neither me nor the mother shall have firearms in our respective homes. Unconstitutional? Yes, but I was so happy to have the ability to protect my son from the crap he was being subjected to. I just obeyed the order and took my firearms to my father's house, where they stayed for 3 years.
After an attempted home invasion about a year ago, I went next door to my father's house and got my handgun and brought it home. I was then violating the family court order. Understand that violating a family court's order is not breaking a law. It could have me held in contempt by that court and only by that court.
Last summer, I taught my son firearms safety and took him out to my family's property to target shoot. Once my ex wife found out, she started calling the police, showing them the court's order, telling them I have a gun permit, that I am crazy and threaten her. Basically just lying in an attempt to get my gun permit revoked. She then filed for custody of our son again and also filed contempt against me for having a firearm in the house.
The ex did not get custody, she lost that. I was not held in contempt for having a firearm in the house, but was re-ordered to have no firearms in the house.
Now for what the judge actually said:
Judge R.M. said she did not care if I took my son out to shoot. She said that perfectly normal; and sane people enjoy shooting guns. R.M. said that she (Judge) did not personally own guns and knew little about them, but she was concerned that a teenager can get around gun locks and safes. R.M. stated that she did not care if I keep my firearms next door, at my father's house and she did not care that my son goes to and stays the night with other family members that have firearms in their homes or that I even carry a handgun. R.M. just decided that the right to keep and bear arms no longer applied to the inside of my home. If my girlfriend of 7 years (daughter and granddaughter of police officers) decides that she will have a gun in the home for the protection of herself and children, then either I or the girlfriend have to move out because I am not allowed to have one in my home.
There was no evidence presented against me to suggest that I am irresponsible or a danger to anyone. The original order from 2006 was from Judge Ransberger. She was heard saying "I don't care (about their rights). I don't like the things (guns) and I don't want them in the home."
I guess the next step is to file a motion for relief from judgement, basically asking the judge to reconsider. Of course that will do nothing but cost more money and time, but it has to be done before an appeal can be filed. I am actually selling my guns to pay for the cost of getting my rights returned to me. I will then have no guns, but I will have the right to own them if I can ever afford to replace them.
This family court order, that makes no sense whatsoever, makes me look guilty of something. My ex wife has already notified the state police to inform them that I am under court order to not possess firearms in my home. She is attempting to have the state police revoke my gun permit. Not because she is afraid of me, she is not. But because it is a control thing for the ex. I have always enjoyed shooting and working on firearms and she wants to take that away by using the state police and the family courts to do it. The state police may see this order and think to themselves "There must be a reason he can't have a gun in his house. Lets revoke his right to carry". This actually did happen in 1998. My permit was revoked on the word of my ex wife. The ex then took the paper showing that my carry permit had been revoked to the family court and attempted to make the court believe that the police believed I was a danger to her and to my child so she could keep custody of our son. Then she takes the court order saying that I cannot have a gun in my house to the state police to try to get them to revoke my permit again. It's all total bullcrap and honestly, I don't know how to defend myself from this kind of harassment.
So my 2nd Amendment rights have been revoked on the inside of my home because 1 judge does not like guns and because another judge thinks her face will be on TV IF, MAYBE my son steals my gun from my gun safe and harms someone.
This all makes no sense. I am trusted to vouch for other people being responsible enough to have both my son and firearms in their homes. I am trusted to carry a loaded gun on me in any place that it is legal to do so. I am trusted to take my son to the woods and properly monitor him while he has a loaded firearm in his hands, but I am not trusted to secure my own firearms in my own home.
I am also told that if I violate this order for any reason, I will lose custody of my son. I have taken my firearm back next door to my father's house, where they will stay until I sell them to pay for the expense of getting my rights back. All because a judge in Indiana decided her fears trump the U.S. Bill of Rights and the Indiana State Constitution (Article 1 Section 32).
I am sharing this because if this can happen to me, it can happen to you. You don't have to do anything wrong. All you need is a judge that does not like the second amendment. Your rights won't matter. Don't make the mistake of saying that it can't happen because it would violate your rights. I am proof that some judges do not care about your rights. Not even a republican judge. That judge will depend on you being too poor or too busy to attempt to overturn their illegal order.
Let me start by saying I have no criminal record, never been arrested or suspected of any crimes, no history of drug or alcohol abuse and no mental illness either now or in the past. I have a handgun carry license, have been raised around firearms and have personally owned my own firearms for 18 years now.
Background:
Me and the ex wife got divorced when my son was a year old. She had custody of him till 2006, when he was 9 years old. She was a horrible mother and the court and custody evaluators all agreed and granted me sole custody of our son. She never defended her parenting, or lack of it, but rather just tried to make the court believe that I was a danger to our son's mental and physical safety. One thing she would consistently bring up was that I owned firearms. She would lie and say that I left them all out where the child could get to them and even said that I allowed the boy to play with live ammunition. This was all found to be false and the guns were inspected (In the 2 gun safes I own) several times and found to be stored properly.
That is the short version. The point of this is that the judge ordered that neither me nor the mother shall have firearms in our respective homes. Unconstitutional? Yes, but I was so happy to have the ability to protect my son from the crap he was being subjected to. I just obeyed the order and took my firearms to my father's house, where they stayed for 3 years.
After an attempted home invasion about a year ago, I went next door to my father's house and got my handgun and brought it home. I was then violating the family court order. Understand that violating a family court's order is not breaking a law. It could have me held in contempt by that court and only by that court.
Last summer, I taught my son firearms safety and took him out to my family's property to target shoot. Once my ex wife found out, she started calling the police, showing them the court's order, telling them I have a gun permit, that I am crazy and threaten her. Basically just lying in an attempt to get my gun permit revoked. She then filed for custody of our son again and also filed contempt against me for having a firearm in the house.
The ex did not get custody, she lost that. I was not held in contempt for having a firearm in the house, but was re-ordered to have no firearms in the house.
Now for what the judge actually said:
Judge R.M. said she did not care if I took my son out to shoot. She said that perfectly normal; and sane people enjoy shooting guns. R.M. said that she (Judge) did not personally own guns and knew little about them, but she was concerned that a teenager can get around gun locks and safes. R.M. stated that she did not care if I keep my firearms next door, at my father's house and she did not care that my son goes to and stays the night with other family members that have firearms in their homes or that I even carry a handgun. R.M. just decided that the right to keep and bear arms no longer applied to the inside of my home. If my girlfriend of 7 years (daughter and granddaughter of police officers) decides that she will have a gun in the home for the protection of herself and children, then either I or the girlfriend have to move out because I am not allowed to have one in my home.
There was no evidence presented against me to suggest that I am irresponsible or a danger to anyone. The original order from 2006 was from Judge Ransberger. She was heard saying "I don't care (about their rights). I don't like the things (guns) and I don't want them in the home."
I guess the next step is to file a motion for relief from judgement, basically asking the judge to reconsider. Of course that will do nothing but cost more money and time, but it has to be done before an appeal can be filed. I am actually selling my guns to pay for the cost of getting my rights returned to me. I will then have no guns, but I will have the right to own them if I can ever afford to replace them.
This family court order, that makes no sense whatsoever, makes me look guilty of something. My ex wife has already notified the state police to inform them that I am under court order to not possess firearms in my home. She is attempting to have the state police revoke my gun permit. Not because she is afraid of me, she is not. But because it is a control thing for the ex. I have always enjoyed shooting and working on firearms and she wants to take that away by using the state police and the family courts to do it. The state police may see this order and think to themselves "There must be a reason he can't have a gun in his house. Lets revoke his right to carry". This actually did happen in 1998. My permit was revoked on the word of my ex wife. The ex then took the paper showing that my carry permit had been revoked to the family court and attempted to make the court believe that the police believed I was a danger to her and to my child so she could keep custody of our son. Then she takes the court order saying that I cannot have a gun in my house to the state police to try to get them to revoke my permit again. It's all total bullcrap and honestly, I don't know how to defend myself from this kind of harassment.
So my 2nd Amendment rights have been revoked on the inside of my home because 1 judge does not like guns and because another judge thinks her face will be on TV IF, MAYBE my son steals my gun from my gun safe and harms someone.
This all makes no sense. I am trusted to vouch for other people being responsible enough to have both my son and firearms in their homes. I am trusted to carry a loaded gun on me in any place that it is legal to do so. I am trusted to take my son to the woods and properly monitor him while he has a loaded firearm in his hands, but I am not trusted to secure my own firearms in my own home.
I am also told that if I violate this order for any reason, I will lose custody of my son. I have taken my firearm back next door to my father's house, where they will stay until I sell them to pay for the expense of getting my rights back. All because a judge in Indiana decided her fears trump the U.S. Bill of Rights and the Indiana State Constitution (Article 1 Section 32).
I am sharing this because if this can happen to me, it can happen to you. You don't have to do anything wrong. All you need is a judge that does not like the second amendment. Your rights won't matter. Don't make the mistake of saying that it can't happen because it would violate your rights. I am proof that some judges do not care about your rights. Not even a republican judge. That judge will depend on you being too poor or too busy to attempt to overturn their illegal order.