December 19th, 2008
Editorial: Better tools to enforce personal protection orders are necessary
Grand Rapids Press:
Esmeralda Aguilera had a protection order to keep her ex-boyfriend away from her. It didn’t work. Police say Reyes Renteria shot the Holland Township woman to death and beat her 15-year-old daughter with a baseball bat before killing himself. The teenager remains hospitalized in Grand Rapids…
In court papers seeking a PPO [Personal Protection Order], Ms. Aguilera said she found Renteria in her home on two occasions after she ended the relationship: once hiding in a closet and another time in her bedroom. He showed up while she was on a date with someone else and also at her job.
The editorial board then goes on to suggest that electronic tethers of various types may have helped prevent this crime. I’m not opposed to these sorts of devices, but people need to be careful that they don’t (accidentally, I’m sure) give the impression that GPS tethers and home alarms actually do anything to protect anyone.
I’m good friends with a sister of the victim. Details about exactly what happened are sketchy, at least to the public. I have no idea what sort of “better tools” would have been needed to affect the outcome.
Someone who knows I’m a gun owner told me that if the guy hadn’t had a gun the woman would still be alive. Since emotions were obviously running high and everyone was in shock, I refrained from asking if banning baseball bats would have kept the daughter out of the hospital.
I don’t know what the right answer to this might have been. I don’t know if guns or GPS tethers or home security systems would have made a difference. I do know that a piece of paper didn’t help and that it’s a tragedy that I cannot fathom.
Tags: MI
December 20th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I think it should be noted that, as usually happens, the press forgot to mention that Esmealda Aguilera was sot with an ILLEGALLY POSSESSED HANDGUN.
December 20th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I agree. A home security system would not have changed the outcome, and it shows a lack of understanding of violent crime to even suggest that it would.
James
December 20th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Deepwoods: I didn’t mention anything about that because I haven’t seen it confirmed anywhere.
I have seen it reported in several places that it was a “hunting rifle,” not a handgun.
Do you have a source for the “illegally possessed handgun” claim? (Not questioning you, as I don’t have any solid info. Just trying to figure out what really happened.)
December 20th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
[...] Better Tools [...]
December 21st, 2008 at 2:18 pm
A restraining order is really just a self-defense license in the US. If you shoot someone who approaches you while under one, in most jurisdictions, you will not be prosecuted.
That is the document’s only use, as far as I can tell.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:56 pm
[...] wrote about protection orders and other feel goodness last [...]