Ohio nursing home killings highlight failure of gun control laws/justice system and impotence of protection orders

On Friday, May 12, a deranged man entered a nursing home in Kirkersville, Ohio and murdered two female employees. Reports say he then took hostages, ambushed and murdered the village's police chief as he exited his car, and proceeded to commit suicide.

It has now been revealed that the murderer, Thomas Hartless, came to the nursing home with intent to kill his girlfriend, registered nurse Marlina Medrano, one of the two now-deceased employees of the nursing home.

We mourn with the families of the victims, and we share in their outrage over the failure of the justice system that allowed this tragic event to unfold.

And how did gun control laws and the system fail? Let us count the ways:

1. The murderer was a felon, had a violent history of domestic violence, and thus was prohibited by several gun control laws from purchasing or possessing firearms.

Lawmakers promised that these numerous state and federal gun control laws would "keep guns out of the hands of criminals."

Back in 2009, Hartless kidnapped an ex-girlfriend from a Newark business, bound the woman's wrists and ankles with duct tape, drove her to Knox County and assaulted her.

He was convicted of a felony in that case and spent time in prison, which would bar him from owning a firearm.

Despite lawmakers' promises that gun control laws will "keep guns out of the hands of criminals," Hartless still managed to amass a collection of more than 60 guns, which were taken from his home after the nursing home attack.

Gun control laws don't work because they only "control" the law-abiding. Criminals like this murderer aren't deterred by such laws.

2. The murderer was given a 90 day sentence on March 23 for his most recent act of violence, and was released on April 11, after just 19 days.

According to court documents, Hartless was sentenced on March 23 to 90 days in jail for the attack on Medrano. He was released on April 11. Even the many victims of our public school system are likely to realize that April 11 isn't 90 days after March 23.

And it isn't just the early release that has people upset. Consider the facts of just one of the attacks that led up to his incarceration and ask yourself why his sentence was only 90 days to begin with:

"He was kicking her with everything in him, stomping her," [neighbor Connie Long] said Monday. "She starts honking the horn and screaming for help."

Long said Medrano began to run across to street to her home and Hartless drove through her yard in an attempt to run Medrano over with his vehicle.

"He aimed the steering wheel right at her, hit the accelerator," she said.

As Medrano spoke with police inside Long's home, she was scared for her life, Long said.

"She was in dire fear of her life and her son's life and even other family members," Long said.

Consider also that the attack in March was just one of a string of attacks on Medrano, others of which including punching, choking, head butting and knocking her down stairs. In each incident he was charged with a misdemeanor and released on bond.

At the very least, this violent felon's attempt to run down Medrano with a motor vehicle in March should have led to charges of attempted murder. Instead, he was given a 90 day sentence and released after two and a half weeks.

3. The murderer was not deterred by a protection order his girlfriend had twice applied for but later dropped.

Records show Medrano had twice sought to obtain a restraining or "protection" order. And what did the person this piece of paper was supposed to protect her from think of that? More from the Newark Advocate:

Long said police asked Medrano why she had dropped a restraining order she applied for in January and again in March.

"She said, 'I'm trying to keep the peace,'" Long said. "She said he had said, 'Do you think a piece of paper will keep me from killing you or your son? Drop the protection order or you're dead.'"

...

Licking County Prosecutor Bill Hayes said in domestic violence cases and in instances where protection orders are filed, there is only so much law enforcement or courts can control.

"The real problem is you can do all this stuff on paper and they're going to behave as they're going to in the real world," he said.

Counseling a victim of domestic violence to obtain a restraining order, while failing to also counsel her to obtain the means to defend herself, is irresponsible and negligent. This prosecutor knows it. Criminals know it. Law enforcement know it.

State law should instead mandate that every person who applies for a "protection" order be counseled on how to obtain a Temporary Emergency License to carry a concealed handgun.

4. Laws that create "no-guns" victim zones protect NO ONE

Nothing that I've seen in print has disclosed whether or not the nursing home was posted as "no-guns." But given a state law which prohibits concealed carry in places that deal with the care of the mentally ill, this nursing home was very likely a prohibited place.

Laws like this do nothing to deter criminals like Hartless, but they DO deter law-abiding people like Medrano, whose sister said had obtained a gun in the last week of her life due to fear of Hartless, but who apparently did not have it on the day of the attack.

State laws or company policies which prohibit workers like Nurse Medrano from carrying a gun for self-protection only guarantee that would-be attackers know exactly where to go to find a bunch of helpless victims.

This attack has provoked a good deal of righteous anger against the justice system. I, for one, hope that one legacy of Marlina Medrano's life might be that this righteous anger might result in change; Might result in criminals like Thomas Hartless of being locked away for the fullest extent of the law, rather than being released early; Might result in victims of domestic violence being given advice on how to obtain a firearm and license to carry it; Might result in passage of Rep. John Becker's recently-introduced DEFEND legislation, which would decriminalize so-called “no-guns" victim zones” for concealed handgun license-holders.

Time will tell.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and a NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.

Additional Information:

Judge haunted by granting early release to nursing home shooter