Wyoming must have lots of cops with misdemeanor domestic violence convictions and wants to put them back on the streets in patrol cars. Or, the governor's hard-drinking, bar-fighting and out-of-control nephew wants a CCW permit... Remember when this first became law and lots of cops lost their ability to carry? Apparently, this is a big problem nation-wide. Personally, I'm not so sure a guy who smacks around his woman should be carrying a concealed firearm. So, I'm sorta happy Wyoming lost this one... A guy with that kind of temper and the inability to control it, really shouldn't have a gun in his pocket.........!
I thought that cops have an exemption so that they can still carry/work? Also, not all these domestic violence convictions are the stereotypical bad husband beats sweet little wife who is scared to leave him because she loves him situation (think Lifetime movie). Usually, if the cops are called the man goes to jail, even if he is just defending himself. It could have been a bad breakup situation, etc. Life happens, not defending creeps, just stating the facts. Sometimes these convictions are not even between intimate couples...a step father could get into an altercation with his adult step son, etc. If the situation is bad enough the person would have been charged with a felony. So I'm going to have to disagree with you Macktee...NOTHING that is a misdemeanor deserves having your gun rights taken away for life. http://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pub/i33103.pdf
Okay, found this on the ATF website: This and more info about it here: http://www.atf.gov/firearms/domestic/qa.htm
Where are you getting your figures that constitute it being a "big problem"? In over eight years I do not personally know of a single case in which an officer was convicted in a DV case and had to be fired. I'm sure that it happens, but it sure isn't a "big" problem as it rarely happens.
http://www.womenandpolicing.org/violenceFS.asp Oh, and Mulally served jail time for this. Some of the officers are still working. My guess is that you are too young to have even been working when this law was passed. I was working, and it was a huge issue when this law was new. It is not an issue now because the law is old and those people have been weeded out. It would have been an even bigger issue for the military.
They did have such a work-related exemption originally, but there was such an outcry (justified, I might add) that they lost the exemption in 1996. Unfortunately, this law is not enforced very much, so there are still a lot of officers out there violating this federal law with no real fear of prosecution or firing.
Here is a 1996 news story where the officer interviewed is whining about how "unfair" the new law is to police. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/janu ... e_1-9.html
I'm familiar of the instances of when the law was passed. My post was in response to the implication that it is a ongoing issue with officers constantly being fired for DV convictions. While I'm sure that it does happen from time to time, it is by no means a common place occurence, at least not in the eight plus years I've been on the job. One could contact GA POST ( www.gapost.org ) and ask for the current numbers on officers losing their certifications and find out exactly. I've only been on the job for eight plus years, but I was 27 when I went to the academy.
Here is the only actual study I could find on the issue. It cites earlier studies, on of which shows that domestic violence by police officers is even higher than for military families, and four times as high as the general population. That's no small difference.
Or maybe they think this is a bad law and violates the U.S. Constitution? Maybe we have some principled politicians out west? Remember when Montana refused to do the Brady stuff?
Its not a problem now because depts go out of their way to not charge officers with DV. Don't even try to tell me it doesn't happen. I know better.