Gun-toting woman divides community

Praxius

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Dec 18, 2007
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Gun-toting woman divides community | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/12/2008

LEBANON, Pa. - Before heading out the door to go to Wal-Mart, Meleanie Hain fussed over her children, grabbed her coat and keys, then ran upstairs to get one more item: her loaded Glock 26, which she strapped to her hip.

She never leaves home without it.

Hain, 30, has caused a stir in this rural Pennsylvania Dutch community 25 miles east of Harrisburg for packing a gun everywhere she goes, including to her 5-year-old daughter's soccer games this fall.

She's paid a big price for sticking to her gun.

The mother of four, who often carries a baby on one hip and her Glock on the other, has been criticized by even the most ardent gun-lovers. From once-friendly neighbors to the local police chief, the general feeling is that Hain's pistol-packing behavior is, well, extreme.

"People get alarmed because they don't see that too often," said Charlie Jones, a soccer coach who confronted Hain about the gun at a Sept. 11 game. "They don't know what your intentions are going to be."

Hain said the outcry has hurt her babysitting business and left her feeling isolated. She has been called an attention-seeker, psycho, moron and worse on hundreds of pages on Internet forums. Neighbors have blasted her on radio shows, her daughter's principal warned her against taking the gun to school (she doesn't), and the local police chief advised her to put it away.

Now she is firing back. On Oct. 24, Hain filed a federal lawsuit against Lebanon County and Mike DeLeo, the sheriff who revoked her gun permit after jittery parents complained about her at the Sept. 11 game.

The suit says they violated her constitutional and civil rights and seeks more than $1 million.

"The sheriff got on TV after the hearing and said, 'I stand by my decision,' " said Hain, who grew up in Lancaster County in a family that did not own guns. "That comment makes people think I'm still an idiot and what he did was right."

DeLeo, who calls himself a staunch NRA member, said he has nothing against guns but felt it was his duty to take action "because of the safety and security issues involving [children] on the field."

Last week, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence offered to defend DeLeo and the county for free.

"This is a case that calls out for common sense and sanity," said Daniel Vice, the center's senior attorney. "It's an incredible risk to bring a loaded semi-automatic weapon to a children's soccer game."

No one disputes Hain's right to own a gun. Many of her critics are hunters. But they say that packing heat at a soccer game - or anywhere else around children - is dangerous and foolhardy.

In Pennsylvania, gun owners are allowed to carry weapons in the open as Hain does, but need a permit to conceal them in a pocket, purse or car. So without a permit, Hain could still carry a gun at the game but couldn't take it in the car to get there.

Even Judge Robert J. Eby, who restored her permit on Oct. 14, said he thought she lacked good judgment and common sense.

"You scared the devil out of some other people," Eby said.

He chided her for causing anxiety and apprehension in other people and said he didn't think anyone needed gun protection at a 5-year-old's soccer game.

Concealing it "would be the right thing to do," he said.

Hain, who has children ages 1, 5 and 9 and a 9-year-old stepdaughter, says a near-fatal car accident 21/2 years ago destroyed her sense of security and convinced her that the worst can happen.

"I thought, 'What more can I do to ensure the safety of myself and my children?' " she said. "It's not a matter of being paranoid. People have smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in their homes. They're not paranoid; they're prepared."

How will a fk'n gun protect your children from another car accident?

All she proved was that she is indeed paranoid, explained why she's paranoid and therefore a bit of a basket case with a gun. Maybe if she was attacked by someone in some fashion, I could see some justification for her reasoning, but she's using an accident as an excuse to go everywhere with a gun...... and for what?

What good is the gun going to do at a children's soccor game? It might make sure you don't get in a fight with another parent, but as they said above, that's a bit excessive.

I think she needs to get a bit of help if she's going to rely on a firearm in such a degree.

The story continues on for two more pages and there are some interesting details:

Articulate and well-versed in gun laws, she is a vegetarian and Krishna follower with a Sanskrit symbol tattooed on her forearm, though she calls herself a "pseudo-devotee." Her husband, who taught her to shoot, works in law enforcement but stays out of the fray, fearing it will cost him his job. She won't say where he works and in fact, he sat in his car while a reporter and photographer were in his house with Hain.


Her babysitting business has suffered. Two babysitting clients have fled and she is down to just one family. Michael Long - who leaves Tyler, 2, and Joshawa, 8, with Hain one day a week - said he doesn't worry because she locks up her gun when the children are in the house.

"I can see where she's coming from," he said, scooping up Tyler in Hain's living room, which was filled with toys. In a large crate in the kitchen was Ghost, an enormous bull mastiff.

Others, though, say they can't understand why she feels so threatened.

"I said, 'Kids are more in danger of falling off a piece of playground equipment or getting hit by a car in the parking lot than anybody coming and doing anything where you need a gun to defend yourself,' " Jones said.

But Hain sees danger lurking around every corner.

She carries the weapon cowboy-style because in an emergency - not that there has ever been one - "I don't really need anything extra in the way of the gun if I'm going to have to pull it out and I'm holding a baby and trying to shuttle two or three other kids," she said.

Jesus Murphy, planning to go out Rambo Style while holding your children? Now that's just brilliant.

And she doesn't want to have to wait for help to arrive. "When seconds count," she said, "the police are minutes away."

DeLeo said he had rarely seen anyone other than a police officer walk around with a gun on the hip. In fact, doing so might make Hain more of a target, he said.

"If you carry it open, you already lost the element of surprise," he said.

Moreover, it increases the change of accidental shootings, Vice of the Brady Center said. And a child could easily grab it.

"Semiautomatic weapons are made so that even young children can fire them," he said.

At Wal-Mart, Hain zipped through the aisles like any other busy mother, except she had a Glock on her hip instead of a cell phone. The last time she was in the store, a woman complained about the gun to a manager who asked Hain to leave. She explained that she was legally entitled to carry the gun and marched back into the store.

On this trip, few people seemed to notice the gun as she filled her cart with Pokémon cards, jeans and diapers. Then in the milk aisle, a man and woman approached.

"Thank you for standing up for yourself," said John Stegall, who said he recognized her from the newspaper.

After they left, Hain, ever vigilant, said she had noticed them looking at her and wondered whether they were going to cause trouble.

"People who carry pay a lot of attention to what's going on around them," she said.

Man, what a fruit cake.

Hain has thought about becoming a cop, but friends told her that nobody would hire her because "she makes waves," she said.

But as she checked out, a young cashier asked whether she was a police officer.

"No, it's for self-defense," she said as she loaded her cart. "Do you know how many crimes have taken place in Wal-Mart parking lots?"

Like wow.... I personally can't imagine living a life where I think everybody around me is out to kill or harm me.... and I can't see a bunch of criminals wanting to line up and attack her even without a gun, as I am sure they have better things to do.

I just think that perhaps she needs to get a little bit of help for her head issues from the accident..... One of these days, she's gonna frak out and actually shoot the wrong person with that attitude, and it'd probably be some poor bum asking for change.
 

Mongul

Electoral Member
Dec 1, 2008
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She has problems, most people who conceal/carry are just regular people who are concerned about them possibly being robbed/raped, which is perfectly fine. Displaying your weapon is just excessive and dangerous
 

Nuggler

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Feb 27, 2006
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I kind of know where she's coming from, living in a high crime country, but; I would opt for concealed carry just so as not to freak anyone out. Someone comes from behind and bops her on the head, they got themselves a free gun.

I would bet a dollar to a donut that there are lots of soccer moms down there who have a little snub nose in their purses or glove boxes of their cars.

Probably up here too. Don't blame em.
 

shadowshiv

Dark Overlord
May 29, 2007
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I hope that this never happens, but if she accidentally shoots one of the children that she is caring for who will she blame? She does not come across as the sort of person who should be having a gun. A soccer game? Come on!:roll:
 

Mongul

Electoral Member
Dec 1, 2008
103
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I hope that this never happens, but if she accidentally shoots one of the children that she is caring for who will she blame? She does not come across as the sort of person who should be having a gun. A soccer game? Come on!:roll:

gun discharges never happen if a gun is fastened to a gun holster properly.
 

karrie

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Jan 6, 2007
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I wouldn't have my kid in her dayhome. Plain and simple. I wouldn't trust her to keep the gun on her at all times. Carrying a loaded gun around the house with kids... no way, no how. But, what confuses me is why it makes people feel better if she were to get a permit to conceal the gun. What's the difference, except that now it's even less safe, sitting loaded in a car or purse where a kid has an even BETTER chance of getting to it?
 

Ron in Regina

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Apr 9, 2008
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Looks like I'm on the other side of the fence on this one. If she's not a criminal, and has no
history of mental issues, and has a permit to legally carry a weapon, I don't have a problem
with this. A non-concealed firearm is a deterrent. She has nothing to hide, including the gun
on her hip. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and this is mine.
 

Praxius

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Dec 18, 2007
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Looks like I'm on the other side of the fence on this one. If she's not a criminal, and has no
history of mental issues, and has a permit to legally carry a weapon, I don't have a problem
with this. A non-concealed firearm is a deterrent. She has nothing to hide, including the gun
on her hip. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and this is mine.

Fair enough on the opinion factor, and the legal technicalities of the situation, but where does she get off being justified in carrying a non-concealed firearm for all to see to quell her own paranoid worries, when she then makes everybody around her paranoid on what her intentions are?

I don't know this person, and everybody else around her for the most part don't know who she is or her intentions. If she's not law enforcement, then why is she trying to look like law enforcement?

Better yet, wtf would you bring a weapon to a kids' soccor game?

Maybe she feels some kind of power when she scares other people by showing off her weapon as though it helps reduce her own fears and worries and passes them onto other people around her..... but then where does she get the right to pass off her own problems to those around her?

Which is why i think she should get some help.
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
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Better yet, wtf would you bring a weapon to a kids' soccor game?

Ya know, of all the places kids need protection, I think letting 'coach' know that mom's slightly unhinged and packing heat is probably just as important (protection wise) as carrying that gun anywhere else. When you think about the ways kids get hurt, and who hurts them, coaches, teachers, anyone with authority over them, are just as good to put a scare into as any stranger walking down the street.
 

Colpy

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Nov 5, 2005
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The woman is merely exercising her constitutional right to keep and bear arms, which the Supreme Court recently ruled is an individual right.

She should have her licence immediately returned, with an apology, as she did absolutely nothing illegal.....or even questionable.

Hopefully she would then drop the suit.
 

Praxius

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Dec 18, 2007
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The woman is merely exercising her constitutional right to keep and bear arms, which the Supreme Court recently ruled is an individual right.

She should have her licence immediately returned, with an apology, as she did absolutely nothing illegal.....or even questionable.

Hopefully she would then drop the suit.

And on a side not to that, yes I accept that's the way things are down there, and yes it's her right to do what she's doing, but I still just don't get it how a society can work decently when everybody feel's it's the norm to carrying firearms around with them everywhere they go.

Heck, I know things are sorta bad down there for crime, but it's not a friggin war zone is it?
 

EagleSmack

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Feb 16, 2005
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All the more reason not to bring a gun into the situation.... frig I already know how hockey dads and moms can get around here....

I actually heard that Hockey Mom's and Dad's are the worst. A few years ago a dad beat another dad to death at a hockey rink here in Massachusetts.
 

karrie

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Jan 6, 2007
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I actually heard that Hockey Mom's and Dad's are the worst. A few years ago a dad beat another dad to death at a hockey rink here in Massachusetts.

Considering that they've put their kids into the only organized sports that glorifies out and out fighting, it's not a huge surprise that they're more prone to beating each other to death in the stands.
 

Tyr

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Nov 27, 2008
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Have you ever seen other Soccer Mom's at a soccer game? They're NUTS!

Lets see. If she wandered intot the local PTA meeting or "Bingo". Would people feel "comfortable? Do you think anybody would get up and leave?

Should this nutbar, even be allowed around kids? For that matter allowed around people?

Maybe she's using her Glock on the off chance that she drives by a deer? Why, she could whip out her trusty sidearm and blow the things head off. Food for the kids...:idea:
 

shadowshiv

Dark Overlord
May 29, 2007
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gun discharges never happen if a gun is fastened to a gun holster properly.

I never said it would happen if it was kept in the holster. I am talking about if she tries to take it out and drops it, she takes it out and forgets it on the counter, she feels threatened by something and takes it out while trying to run away with a kid in her arms, one of the kids(while she is distracted) pulls out the gun and accidentally shoots it.

If she wants to keep it concealed, that is fine. However, she should not be carrying it around a soccer game or Walmart where other people can see it. They have the right to enjoy themselves without worrying about someone carrying a gun around.
 

shadowshiv

Dark Overlord
May 29, 2007
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I actually heard that Hockey Mom's and Dad's are the worst. A few years ago a dad beat another dad to death at a hockey rink here in Massachusetts.

There was also a case(somewhere in Canada, I think) where a father killed a referee...while his kid was standing there watching. I don't think he ended up spending very much time in jail(if at all), but I cannot be certain.
 

Tyr

Council Member
Nov 27, 2008
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I never said it would happen if it was kept in the holster. I am talking about if she tries to take it out and drops it, she takes it out and forgets it on the counter, she feels threatened by something and takes it out while trying to run away with a kid in her arms, one of the kids(while she is distracted) pulls out the gun and accidentally shoots it.

If she wants to keep it concealed, that is fine. However, she should not be carrying it around a soccer game or Walmart where other people can see it. They have the right to enjoy themselves without worrying about someone carrying a gun around.
a concealed weapon is illegal.