Putting A Stop To Domestic Violence

On Thursday the 8th of October, Charles R Losey was murdered while trying to save another employee from her ex-husband Mario Chavez. Rosa Gomez had a PFA (Protection from Abuse) order against her ex-husband; but because of our relaxed law Mario was still able to attain a weapon and go after Rosa and anyone in his way. Mario broke his PFA three times in 2008, but proper actions were never taken. Rosa Gomez passed away on Friday the 16th of October; Mario shot himself later on the 8th. Because of our improper law system three people were killed due to domestic violence.

In 2007 22,429 domestic violence incidents occurred, only 11,423 ended in arrest, of those 17 lives were taken. That means that every 21.5 days one person is murdered because of domestic violence, and every 23 minutes and 26 seconds another domestic violence incident occurs.

Kansas's Protection from Abuse Order is weak in their structure and not only keeps victims living in fear of their abuser; but they do not show the abuser what he/she has done wrong. We are calling for an amendment of the PFA laws which will include:
• An 18-36 month sentence.
• A 6 month supervised probation period that includes counseling, job placement, and drug/alcohol abuse counseling.
• Confiscation of all weapons and ammunition, as well as the violator prohibited from owning any weapons or ammunition during their sentence.
• And finally a tracking system, as well as release information sent to the victims and their families.

Domestic violence not only affects the home, it affects the whole community. Salina’s recent tragedies have made it clear that there is need for a change in our law system. Please help us protect ourselves, friends and families from this preventable and unnecessary violence.