By MARTHA RAFFAELE
Associated Press Writer
HARRISBURG, Pa.
A law set to take effect in May will allow courts to force people accused of domestic violence under protection-from-abuse orders to give up all their guns.
Most states have similar statutes, but it’s a big change for Pennsylvania, where the Legislature has long been a champion of gun owners’ rights. For nearly 30 years, courts have been able to force domestic-violence defendants to surrender only those weapons they have used or threatened to use against a victim.
In 2002, that meant police had to return the 9 mm handgun Michael H. Bechtel had surrendered after a domestic harassment incident, even though his estranged wife had obtained a protection from abuse order against him.
That August, about four months after getting the gun back, Bechtel used it to kill Raienhna P. Bechtel, 22, their 3-year-old son, Jacob, and two other adults in the woman’s home at the time. He pleaded guilty and is serving four life terms in prison.
If the new law had been in place, the killings “may never have happened,” said Raienhna Bechtel’s mother, Joan Starr.
“He probably might have come after her with his hands (instead). She might have had an opportunity to fight back,” Starr said.
The new law, which was signed last month, resulted from a rare meeting of minds among lobbyists for abuse victims, police and gun owners in a largely rural state with gun laws that have earned a D-plus from a major gun-control group.
“If you are law-abiding and you have never threatened anyone with a gun, you don’t have to worry about this law,” said Rep. Katie True, a Lancaster County Republican and NRA member who sponsored the bill.
The legislation is aligned with a provision of federal law that prohibits anyone subject to a restraining order or convicted of a domestic-violence crime from owning firearms, said Jill Morris, public policy director for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
“If you take one (gun) away, you’ve got to take them all away,” Morris said.
The law also doubles the maximum time limit on protective orders to three years.
It will allow judges to order defendants in protection-from-abuse cases to turn over their guns and other weapons to a sheriff or approved third party _ such as a friend or relative _ within 24 hours of issuing a restraining order. A weapons surrender would be mandatory if a defendant violates a protection order.
The law includes a unique system to ensure third parties are held accountable if they return a weapon before the order is lifted, said Amy Sousa, policy specialist for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. They will have to get a free safekeeping permit from a county sheriff, and could be charged with a misdemeanor if they return a weapon without court approval.
Kathy and Mike Dyabelko of Lebanon say that provision could have prevented the 2001 death of their daughter.
Police say an ex-boyfriend killed Stacy Dyabelko, 25, and himself with a gun he had been ordered to give up, but that a friend had eventually returned to him.
The Dyabelkos were invited to the Capitol by Gov. Ed Rendell for a private bill-signing ceremony on Nov. 10.
“It was very bittersweet,” Kathy Dyabelko said. “I do believe that if she had survived, this is what she would have wanted. She didn’t want to see him die. She was not ready to die.”
The law also allows courts to order accusers who seek protective orders based on groundless allegations to pay damages and attorneys’ fees to defendants _ an important concession to gun owners’ groups, said Lowell Graybill, past president of the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs.
“We’re fairly pleased that gun owners and sportsmen weren’t taken for granted,” Graybill said.