CNN - Husband shoots gun-toting soccer mom as she chatted on webcam

[TomCADem]

I am just surprised that there is now just so much momentum behind walking around with guns in public. Guns are not fashion accessories to demonstrate a commitment to freedom. They are instruments that are designed to kill and injure, as this gun-toting soccer mom discovered in the end. Guns are weapons, and people should have no business walking around with assault rifles in public or at political events.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/09/gun.soccer.mom.dead/index.html

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Meleanie Hain, 31, made national headlines last year as the mother who carried a loaded, holstered handgun to her 5-year-old daughter's soccer game.

She was found dead in her Lebanon, Pennsylvania, home along with her husband, Scott Hain, 33, on Wednesday evening, Lebanon police said.

Hain was in her kitchen talking with a friend via webcam just before her death, police said.

* * *
Meleanie Hain drew media attention on September 11, 2008, when she carried a Glock strapped to her belt to her daughter's soccer game.

Nine days later her permit to carry a gun was revoked by Lebanon County Sheriff Michael DeLeo, who claimed she showed poor judgment by wearing the weapon to a child's game. County Judge Robert Eby later reinstated the permit.

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[krispos42]

1. Heh, I think this is the 5th time it's been posted on DU

:shakesheadsadly:

[orleans]

4. first time i've seen/heard about it. n/t

[krispos42]

5. Oh, the usual suspects get involved...

...and it gets hot, then it gets cleansed and shuffled off to the Gungeon.



It started late... maybe it'll have a fighting chance this time.

Hope springs eternal... :-)

[armyowalgreens]

7. There has been at least 1 massive DU brawl over this story already.

[tabasco]

17. First time I've seen it.

Maybe you should get some sleep.

[krispos42]

20. Just got up!

I was up until 7am playing computer games. :-)

[TexasObserver]

2. sounds vaguely familiar

[Faux pas]

3. I never saw it the first '5' times. Thanks for posting.

:)

[dmallind]

9. forget it delete

[aikoaiko]

6. Its sad that she didn't use her firearm on her murderous husband before he used his.

Apparently, she was right to try and leave him.

[dmallind]

8. How exactly are a domestic muder and CCW even vaguely relevant to each other?

There is another post somewhere this AM proudly "debunking" the pro-gun myth that having a gun guarantees your personal safety. Trouble is nobody sane or rational, let alone anybody of any standing or credibility, has ever made that claim.

Carrying a gun around in public is potentially life-saving and certainly levels the odds in the unlikely but undeniably possible event of a serious assault.

Being shot while sitting in your own house on the webcam (or rather just after it) is "proof" of nothing whatsoever about the effectiveness of CCW. Carrying a gun even for the most paranoid of people, let alone those capable of passing a CCW application, tends not to include covering your spouse 24/7 at home, which would have been the only possible defense. Does anybody actually think if this "gun toting" (why are only guns "toted" by the way? nobody ever "totes" their groceries) woman had never seen a gun she would still be alive? Does anybody even think she'd be alive if neither party had ever so "toted"? If spouse a wants spouse b dead - especially when spouse a is likely to be stronger - there are plenty of ways to do it. Guns are amongst the most efficient of course, which is why they are so often used, but domestic homicides hardly depend on their availability. Effective self-defense against stronger, more violent or more numerous attackers usually does.

[vadawg]

10. bravo, good post. i always advise anyone getting a RO that it can only do so much

and that if they are able getting a weapon and learning to use it is better than a piece of paper. Remember i wont be there to hold your hand if the subject breaks the RO and it will take time to get there...

[divideandconquer]

11. Maybe he shot her preemptively

The gun huggers just don't like this topic but they have a victory dance when some poor minority kid with no hope besides crime gets killed.

[aikoaiko]

12. finish that sentence. when some poor minority kid with no hope besides crime gets killed,,,

...attacking or threatening someone else.

And I wouldn't call it a victory dance. Who wouldn't be happy that someone who was innocent of any wrong doing successfully defended him or herself from an attacker?

:shrug:

[divideandconquer]

14. yes it is a victory dance, a victory dance in blood

This time a white soccer mom toting a gun was a victim and the gun huggers have their panties in a wad defending the false meme that guns make people safe.

Do you think guns in Chicago high schools will make them safer?

[aikoaiko]

15. Only you would equate a victim of domestic violence w/ a dangerous criminal stopped w/lethal force.

Is your obsession with guns so warped that you can't see the difference?

I'm fine with autorized adults >21 years who go through their state's licensing/permitting process carry a concealed firearm in schools. How is that gun free zone working out for Chicago?

The victory dance, if you insist on calling it that, is a celebration of life of innocent people. Its people like you who roll around in the blood of innocent victims of gun violence.

[divideandconquer]

18. Yes, both are victims of America's sicko gun culture

[aikoaiko]

19. Your obsessive gun hatred has really backed you into a weird corner.

Have fun there all by yourself (or maybe with a few other obsessives).

[divideandconquer]

21. You're a victim too

Scared to go out without a little help.

[vadawg]

13. no idea why he shot her, but i can guess,, but you do realise that he would have been carrying

even if there was no CCW as he was i believe a parole officer. Im not sure what you are getting at about some minority kid with no hope but crime, but hell i cheer when some gang banger regardless of race gets whacked in the workplace.

[Orsino]

16. It's not hard to see relevance here.

It rather depends on one's reasons for carrying a gun. Is it merely for defense, or is it a "statement" crafted to be aggressive, and possibly indicative of a mindset that reveres weaponry above people?

Could be both. Might be something else. We needn't leap to a conclusion of causation any more than we should insist that this woman's death by gun violence is purely coincidental--but I think it possible, even likely, that the couple would still be alive, had they not loved guns so much. The media tell us constantly that guns are a quick solution to what ails ya, and perhaps we can't help internalizing a bit of that.

The possible connections are obvious. The relevance is inescapable--though the particulars of this case are largely unknown.

[benEzra]

22. It is known that she was shot in the back while unarmed and talking on her webcam...

and the shooter, her estranged husband, was a rogue law enforcement officer (corrections and parole officer). She did not even have a gun in the room.