During the Maryland General Assembly session this spring, Delegate Sue Hecht pinned a newspaper clipping on her bulletin board as a reminder that domestic violence took the lives of 21 people in and around Frederick County in 2007.Hecht, a Frederick County Democrat, was executive director of Heartly House for 11 years before joining the state legislature.
She believes the goal of lawmakers should be to give professionals the tools to protect victims, since those who are abused often don't realize they are in such danger or are too afraid to ask for help.
During the last session, Maryland lawmakers considered 17 bills tracked by the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence , a coalition of community leaders advocating on the issue. Only two passed.
The most controversial are bills intended to take guns away from accused abusers.
Between July 2006 and June 2007, firearms accounted for 21 of 52, or roughly 40 percent, of domestic violence deaths, according to the MNADV.
Last year, two bills restricting firearms ran into problems with the House Judiciary Committee, effectively preventing their passage.
The committee gave an unfavorable report to a bill that would have required respondents to surrender any firearm in their possession to law enforcement authorities, as long as a final protective order is in place.
This bill was supported by Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley.
Under current state law, a judge can decide whether to require a respondent to surrender firearms. In some cases, they have asked for handguns, but not rifles.
Last year, David Peter Brockdorff of Urbana shot his ex-wife, three children, and himself with a rifle. Brockdorff was under a protective order.
"Any type of firearm has the potential of killing someone," Hecht said.
Federal law requires respondents to not possess any firearms, so O'Malley and other proponents said the bill would have made Maryland law more consistent with that law.
But without a favorable report from the House of Delegates Judiciary Committee, the bill could go no further.
Delegate Kevin Kelly, a Democrat from Allegany County, is a member of the Judiciary Committee. He said laws dealing with domestic violence have dramatically improved over the years, with the length of protective orders going up from 15 days to the current length of a year, with a possibility of a six-month extension after that.
But the committee needs to balance the need to protect victims with the rights of everyone in society, Kelly said. Trying to legislate for the worst 1 percent of cases doesn't make sense because those people aren't following the rules anyway, he said.
Many members of the committee are strong supporters of the Second Amendment. Kelly does not believe taking away guns will stop violent people, who could turn to other means of killing people.
"If you are trying to make all the laws -- ratchet them up -- to prevent that kind of behavior, then it's absurd," Kelly said.
Another bill that would have given judges the option to order respondents to surrender firearms at the temporary protective order stage was withdrawn after the committee failed to act on it.
This bill will likely return next year, said Delegate Kathleen Dumais, a member of the Judiciary Committee. A Democrat from Montgomery County, Dumais is recognized as a leader on issues related to domestic violence and is in favor of the bill.
"It is a difficult bill in my committee because there is a general sense that the domestic violence laws can be misused or mistreated, and that some alleged victims might use it to get the leg up in divorce proceedings," Dumais said.
She believes delegates should err on the side of protecting a victim, rather than on what she considers to be property rights.
Hecht believes this bill should pass because the most dangerous time for victims is when they first reach out for help because the abuser starts to lose control.
"When you put guns into that whole part of this very dangerous time, it can potentially be deadly," she said.
Frederick County Sen. Alex Mooney is a Republican on the Senate Judicial Proceedings committee. He said he opposes this bill because temporary protective orders can be granted without the respondent getting to tell his or her side of the story.
"You should surrender your firearms and other rights once you're convicted of something," Mooney said. "We do believe in America you are innocent until proven guilty."
Mooney said he is passionate about preventing domestic violence and sponsored a successful bill several years ago to make it possible for domestic violence victims to register their address as confidential with the secretary of state.
Aside from legislation related to guns, Maryland lawmakers are likely to take up several other initiatives aimed at curbing domestic violence.
One is a bill to extend the length of protective orders and another would make it easier for victims to obtain protective orders by reducing the burden of proof during court proceedings.
Laws are just one part of the solution, however.
"We need better laws and need the whole range of support," said Michaele Cohen, the executive director of the Maryland Network. "We need to make sure people are safe in the long term, can support themselves and their families, and can live free from abuse."
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