Thread by @MuellerSheWrote

THREAD: SCOTUS RAHIMI: TW/CW: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: I’m relieved SCOTUS ruled 8 - 1 that a domestic abuser under a restraining order cannot own a firearm, but I’m equally appalled at Thomas’ repugnant dissent. Here’s why. 1/

Thomas writes that the law in question “is not triggered by a criminal conviction or a person’s criminal history, therefore it strips an individual of HIS (interesting use of pronoun there) ability to possess firearms and ammunition without due process.” With zero due respect Clarence, to hell with you and your selective due process. 2/

A conviction isn’t as straightforward as that. Most battered partners aren’t out from under the control of their abuser until much later. In mid-December 2019, my ex was arrested for felony assault domestic violence. That night, he had been drunk and erratic. As was our ritual, I locked myself in the bedroom until he slept it off. But this time he followed and banged on the door nearly breaking it down. 3/

He left for a moment, but returned with a power drill and removed the door from the hinges. Inside the room I was on the phone with a friend who heard what was happening and called 9-1-1. My ex threw the door aside and stormed it. Pushed me down and held me down with his forearm across my throat, wrestling my phone away from me. 4/

I struggled to breathe for a few minutes, quasi-successfully fighting him off because he was so intoxicated, and there was a banging at the door. It was the police. They arrested him. I bailed him out the next morning. My best explanation for doing so is that after years of coercion and control, I blamed myself for the altercation and abuse. 5/

Days later, the detective assigned to the case called me and asked if I wanted to press charges. My husband was sitting with me during that phone call. He had instructed me to tell them I wouldn’t be pressing charges, and he was hovering over me during the call. I did what he said. 6/

A few days later, I called a meeting with two of my friends and told them about what was going on. They told me I needed to leave and file charges. I also called a divorce attorney who said the same thing. Keep in mind, my husband had bugged my purse and my car, and hidden GPS devices in both. I didn’t know it, but he heard all those conversations. From his notes in evidence: 7/

December 22nd, I came home to find my spouse sitting on the patio with my loaded Glock on the table in front of him, intoxicated (he told me he was.) “Are you scared? Do you think the gun is for you? You should be scared. Nobody fucks with me.” 8/

I immediately and carefully packed a bag and told him I was going to stay at a friend’s. That night was a game of GPS cat and mouse. Since the phones were in my name, I was able to turn on his location and watched him try to track me down using the planted tracking device I had not yet discovered. 9/

I didn’t sleep that night, and the next morning I went to the courthouse to apply for a restraining order. A temporary order was granted within hours and I fled to another state while he vacated our home. 10/

After the holiday, I went to call the detective back, but my husband had deleted the detective’s contact information and the call from the call log. I was able to find it in my Apple Watch and called to press charges, but the detective was on vacation. No other detective would take my call. 11/

When I returned home, I went to the station to file charges, but the detective still wasn’t there and I was told I would have to go through him. When he returned mid-January and I finally spoke with him, he told me it was too late. He had already told the court I declined to prosecute, and he closed the case. 12/

Stunningly, my husband was already on probation at the time because a couple years earlier he had nearly killed me in a drunk driving crash - having convinced me that he was okay to drive. I had over 400 stitches and lost three pints of blood in that accident. But they still wouldn’t let me press charges, and I guess they thought he hadn’t violated his probation. 13/

Having found a years-long pattern of abuse, the court awarded me a 3-year restraining order, which was renewed again recently for five years because he still stalks me. There were additional court proceedings to confiscate his firearms, which they did successfully. Since that time, I filed for divorce, got a home security system, and I take extra precautions including circling the block if there’s a car behind me. 14/

Every now and then, I’ll run into bouncers at clubs and waiters at restaurants who tell me that my ex had contacted them and asked them to report back to him if they saw me. Here’s an example from evidence. 15/

The court told me that if I wanted to keep the houses, I’d need to give him half the equity even though I had made every house payment because he didn’t work. 50/50 community property still applies to abusers. To pay him, I had to refinance the house and borrow against the equity. 16/

I decided to max out the second mortgage to remodel the home so I wouldn’t be reminded of him. I sold off everything and donated it to a battered women’s shelter. I needed a fresh start. 17/

My ex found out I remodeled and that really pissed him off, so he conspired with Twitter trolls to harass me. He was a big part of that hit piece last year claiming I spent podcast or PPP money on a pool or whatever. The abuse hasn’t stopped, and if he had access to firearms, I am 100% certain I would be dead. More exhibits from evidence: 18/

I’m glad that 8 of the justices saw the danger in allowing a domestic abuser access to a firearm, but for Thomas to say you have to win a criminal conviction to take away a firearm shows his complete and pathological hatred of women. It’s no different than requiring a woman to report her rape and win a conviction to be believed. 19/

I recognize that it’s not just women who are survivors of DV, but Thomas referred to abusers as “him”, so that’s why I point out the gross misogyny on his part. So miss me with your “he didn’t get due process” bullshit. 20/

To everyone who has been re-traumatized by Thomas’s dissent, I’m sending you my love. You’re not alone. And I’m an atheist, but if Hell exists, I hope Thomas rots in it. END/