Report: S.C. Should Confiscate Guns of CDV Offenders

Experts recommended Wednesday confiscating the firearms of offenders convicted of criminal domestic violence as one way to make South Carolina a safer state for women.

They also recommended making a second offense a felony, making it tougher for accused abusers to make bail to get out of jail and increasing the number of women’s shelters.

The recommendations, made to a special S.C. House committee charged with proposing ways to toughen the state’s abuse laws, come against a backdrop of high domestic violence.

In 2011, South Carolina led the nation in the number of women killed by men. In 2012, the state was second.

The combination of firearms and domestic violence is a toxic cocktail, University of South Carolina School of Law professor Colin Miller said, recommending the state join others in confiscating firearms and ammunition from convicted offenders.

State law now says offenders convicted of criminal domestic violence cannot possess weapons. But the state does not confiscate those weapons.

“You cannot take on this issue if you do not take on the issue of alcohol and guns,” said Noel Busch-Armendariz, associate dean of the University of Texas School of Social Work.

Miller and Bush-Armendariz were among 10 experts who testified to the legislative committee, chaired by state Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort.

Miller also recommended the state classify a second offense of domestic violence as a felony, saying that would indicate the gravity of the crime is fundamentally different from a misdemeanor.

"Once that person has repeated the conduct… it shows a lack of rehabilitation,” Miller said. “It shows, through the repeated conduct, a fundamentally different type of behavior that justifies the labeling of that person as a felon."

But Heath Taylor of the S.C. Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said increased penalties are not the answer, suggesting instead focusing on education as a preventive measure.

Domestic violence cases are different than other crimes because perpetrators can be anyone – a police chief, a doctor, a lawyer, Taylor said. "(Domestic violence) doesn’t know any social class or economic class."

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