MachIVshooter
Member
I'll just start by reiterating what many know here, myself included, but what recently became a harsh reality for me. That is that you cannot be too careful when it comes to fighting with your significant other.
This is gonna be the cliff notes version, since the incident itself is hardly gun related, but needs to be stated to illustrate how fragile the situation can be.
Wednesday night the girlfriend and I had it out over finances, and she became very upset when I refused to give her control of mine. I keep my cool pretty well, and never actually got to the point of screaming, but I was definitely upset. At one point in the argument, she grabbed my hand to get my attention. She was sitting on the futon in the spare room, I was in the rolling office chair facing her. I yelled for her to let go and it went ignored, so I pulled back. She was holding on so tightly that she came off the couch and landed on the floor butt first. She got back up and the verbal conflict continued awhile, and finally she left the house.
Well, before she left, she took ALL of my vehicle titles (9 of them). When she wouldn't respond to my texts about it, I finally had to call the sheriff to figure out what my options were. I wasn't gonna risk her forging my signature and selling my cars out from under me. The Deputy finally got hold of her and confirmed that she had them. Good, now it's on the record, right? wrong. I could still lose big and spend months in civil court if she did do what I feared. So the next day, I leave work to go to the DMV to get new titles, but they can't find one in the system. I come home to get the VIN off that car, and she's here. Fortunately, so was a deputy, so I knew it wouldn't get out of hand. Now, when she had left, I told her when she came back for her stuff, she needed to bring an officer to keep the peace, because she just can't be civil. However, it turns out this was more than just a civl assist. She had got angry that I called the sheriff about the vehicle titles and decided to retaliate by telling them I had grabbed her wrists and thrown her to the ground. She also told them that I was extremely hostile and armed to the teeth, so the officer was rather stand-offish with me at first. She soon left and he talked to me, quickly figured out there was no threat, got my side of the story and decided that no crime had taken place. But he also advised me how volatile the situation was, which I knew all too well. It seemed like things were done.
Enter the next day. I went to work as usual, but about 1 pm I got a call from her father that a wrecker was en route for her broken car (she had been using one of mine) and asked me how we could move my truck that was in front of her vehicle. I had the only set of keys for the truck, an told him I'd be there ASAP to move it. I then called a friend who was more than willing to be a witness in case things got out of hand. I got there, moved the vehicles and was waiting for them to finish so I could put cars back in the drive. My friend and his wife had their daughter with them, and she was cold, so I said let's stand in the living room for now. Well, the ex came into the room and began screaming at me. Her father told her to cease, and my friends and I decided to just bear the cold to avoid conflict. However, I talked to her father and mentioned that the KT P32 I had loaned her for protection was unaccounted for, and needed to be. She told him she had no idea where it was, so I'm thinking "great, it was stolen out of the car".
But to get to the point of the second day, in her fit that I would dare be at the house while she was rummaging through it, she called the sheriff and told them I was Irate, I was making threats, I wouldn't let her leave and that I was armed. 4 cars show up, full code. I'm ordered over and the officer pats me down, asks me about weapons (my CCW was in the car) and then the officers begin interviewing everyone to get the full story. Fortunately, my friend had the foresight to bring a digital voice recorder, and the officers listened to what really happened vs. what the ex had told them. They told her to gather her things quickly and leave. I mentioned to one deputy that I was missing a firearm, and he asked her about it, to which he got the same answer (I don't know). I told him I'd look for it and if I couldn't find it, I'd be down later to file a missing firearm report. Everyone left, and I began searching the house to A) look for the gun and B) make sure she hadn't tolen or damaged anything. Low and behold, the pistol had miraculously appeared in my dresser drawer. About 20 minutes later, I get a call from her father saying that she owned up to having had it and placed it there. Seems that she realized taking it would not be wise.
So, the point of my little diatribe is that it can be so easy to be charged with domestic violence and lose your rights. I am not a violent person. I've been in one fistfight my whole life when I was in the ninth grade. I have never even threatened to hit a woman. But none of that would have mattered if the officer had believed her lies, and I would have been arrested and had all my firearms taken forever. And if I hadn't been so cautious the next day when I returned to move the vehicle, if I had hadn't had both human and electronic witnesses, It would've been my word against hers and her parents, and again, I probably would have been arrested and had guns confiscated. It is by the grace of god that, because of my savvy friend, the local LEO's now know that she cries wolf with the intention of getting me in handcuffs.
So, be careful, guys and gals. I am very mellow and not at all violent, always trying to diffuse a volatile situation, and I still could very easily have wound up in big, big trouble if the other party had been a better liar and if I hadn't been able to prove the truth.
This is gonna be the cliff notes version, since the incident itself is hardly gun related, but needs to be stated to illustrate how fragile the situation can be.
Wednesday night the girlfriend and I had it out over finances, and she became very upset when I refused to give her control of mine. I keep my cool pretty well, and never actually got to the point of screaming, but I was definitely upset. At one point in the argument, she grabbed my hand to get my attention. She was sitting on the futon in the spare room, I was in the rolling office chair facing her. I yelled for her to let go and it went ignored, so I pulled back. She was holding on so tightly that she came off the couch and landed on the floor butt first. She got back up and the verbal conflict continued awhile, and finally she left the house.
Well, before she left, she took ALL of my vehicle titles (9 of them). When she wouldn't respond to my texts about it, I finally had to call the sheriff to figure out what my options were. I wasn't gonna risk her forging my signature and selling my cars out from under me. The Deputy finally got hold of her and confirmed that she had them. Good, now it's on the record, right? wrong. I could still lose big and spend months in civil court if she did do what I feared. So the next day, I leave work to go to the DMV to get new titles, but they can't find one in the system. I come home to get the VIN off that car, and she's here. Fortunately, so was a deputy, so I knew it wouldn't get out of hand. Now, when she had left, I told her when she came back for her stuff, she needed to bring an officer to keep the peace, because she just can't be civil. However, it turns out this was more than just a civl assist. She had got angry that I called the sheriff about the vehicle titles and decided to retaliate by telling them I had grabbed her wrists and thrown her to the ground. She also told them that I was extremely hostile and armed to the teeth, so the officer was rather stand-offish with me at first. She soon left and he talked to me, quickly figured out there was no threat, got my side of the story and decided that no crime had taken place. But he also advised me how volatile the situation was, which I knew all too well. It seemed like things were done.
Enter the next day. I went to work as usual, but about 1 pm I got a call from her father that a wrecker was en route for her broken car (she had been using one of mine) and asked me how we could move my truck that was in front of her vehicle. I had the only set of keys for the truck, an told him I'd be there ASAP to move it. I then called a friend who was more than willing to be a witness in case things got out of hand. I got there, moved the vehicles and was waiting for them to finish so I could put cars back in the drive. My friend and his wife had their daughter with them, and she was cold, so I said let's stand in the living room for now. Well, the ex came into the room and began screaming at me. Her father told her to cease, and my friends and I decided to just bear the cold to avoid conflict. However, I talked to her father and mentioned that the KT P32 I had loaned her for protection was unaccounted for, and needed to be. She told him she had no idea where it was, so I'm thinking "great, it was stolen out of the car".
But to get to the point of the second day, in her fit that I would dare be at the house while she was rummaging through it, she called the sheriff and told them I was Irate, I was making threats, I wouldn't let her leave and that I was armed. 4 cars show up, full code. I'm ordered over and the officer pats me down, asks me about weapons (my CCW was in the car) and then the officers begin interviewing everyone to get the full story. Fortunately, my friend had the foresight to bring a digital voice recorder, and the officers listened to what really happened vs. what the ex had told them. They told her to gather her things quickly and leave. I mentioned to one deputy that I was missing a firearm, and he asked her about it, to which he got the same answer (I don't know). I told him I'd look for it and if I couldn't find it, I'd be down later to file a missing firearm report. Everyone left, and I began searching the house to A) look for the gun and B) make sure she hadn't tolen or damaged anything. Low and behold, the pistol had miraculously appeared in my dresser drawer. About 20 minutes later, I get a call from her father saying that she owned up to having had it and placed it there. Seems that she realized taking it would not be wise.
So, the point of my little diatribe is that it can be so easy to be charged with domestic violence and lose your rights. I am not a violent person. I've been in one fistfight my whole life when I was in the ninth grade. I have never even threatened to hit a woman. But none of that would have mattered if the officer had believed her lies, and I would have been arrested and had all my firearms taken forever. And if I hadn't been so cautious the next day when I returned to move the vehicle, if I had hadn't had both human and electronic witnesses, It would've been my word against hers and her parents, and again, I probably would have been arrested and had guns confiscated. It is by the grace of god that, because of my savvy friend, the local LEO's now know that she cries wolf with the intention of getting me in handcuffs.
So, be careful, guys and gals. I am very mellow and not at all violent, always trying to diffuse a volatile situation, and I still could very easily have wound up in big, big trouble if the other party had been a better liar and if I hadn't been able to prove the truth.
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