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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhile her husband was in jail, she turned in his guns to cops. That got her arrested.
A divorce battle in Bartow, Florida, is getting uglier by the day.
According to a police report from the Polk County Sheriffs Office, on June 15, Courtney Irby went to her estranged husbands home while he was behind bars on charges that he tried to ram her with his car and retrieved two guns.
Her actions got her arrested. When she turned the guns in to the Lakeland Police Department for safekeeping, she was arrested on burglary and theft charges.
The arrest affidavit says the fashion writer who does charity work for orphanages admitted going to Joseph Irbys residence, a place shed never been. She told cops she took the guns out of his place because he wasnt going to turn them in.
Contacted in jail, Irby, 35, said he wanted to press charges against his ex, who had been granted a restraining order against him. At the time of his June 14 arrest outside the Bartow courthouse, the police report said that Irby had said she was in fear of her life.
Courtney Irby, 32, was charged with armed burglary of a dwelling and grand theft of a firearm.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article231826428.html#storylink=cpy
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)Youre free to argue until the cows come home how she is justified in doing so but while the law is an ass, its still the law.
If you feel strongly that there should be an exception in B&E/Burglary laws for people in her situation or to give teeth to their red flag law then petition Florida legislators to make those changes.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Marengo
(3,477 posts)I tend to think he still would not in regard to firearms.
malaise
(267,799 posts)The law is sometimes as ass
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)Self defense is a hella argument to make when the victim, the guns and the perpetrator are in 3 different geographies which of which is a jail.
malaise
(267,799 posts)and kill people
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)There needs to be a law where if a person gets granted a restraining order from a second person due to violence or threats, that order can require confiscations of weapons.
malaise
(267,799 posts)fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)She will likely be right down the hall.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,080 posts)Hes the guy who threatened to arrest people in the middle of a hurricane evacuation. A truly bad man whose idea of law and order is ass-backwards.
Celerity
(42,643 posts)The case of a Lakeland woman who was arrested when she went to the Lakeland Police Department to turn in firearms she took from her estranged husbands home has caught the attention of a state legislator. Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, D-Orlando, said she will ask State Attorney Brian Haas not to prosecute.
The case of Courtney Taylor Irby demonstrates once more the dangerous linkage between intimate partner violence and access to firearms, Eskamani wrote in a blog post on Medium. Court records show that Irby applied for a temporary injunction against her husband and the two were in the process of a divorce. She was actively protecting herself and her family from an estranged husband who had not turned over his firearms to law enforcement, and was arrested for it. We should be outraged by her arrest, and Irby should not be prosecuted by the local State Attorneys office.
In an email to LkldNow, Eskamani said she will write a letter to Haas asking him not to prosecute and added, We arent done advocating for her.
Courtney Taylor Irby
The case has generated heated arguments on Facebook (here, here and here) between people outraged over the arrest of a woman seeking protection for herself and her children and those who support the arrest since she entered a home where she didnt live and took possessions.
snip
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)This guy is going to be pissed once he found out she took his guns and turned them into the police. He was already a serious threat to her being an abusive, gun-humping, asshole who was going through a divorce. Now he will probably escalate once he gets out of jail.
There is no time more dangerous for a woman in an abusive relationship then when she attempts to leave and take control of her life. I wish her all the best.
Kaleva
(36,146 posts)fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)If you don't mind breaking and entering.
hunter
(38,264 posts)In my community guns are one of the few things people will break into houses for.
"Forget the Dog, Beware of Owner!" gun signs are like an invitation.
The gangsters buy their home electronics at Best Buy like everyone else. In this part of California guns are a little harder to get.
Past days when some kid would force open a window to take a VCR (as happened to us once) are long gone. Everybody's got home electronics now. The criminal class has better than mine.
If I was taking guns from a bat-shit dangerous relative or ex maybe I'd quietly destroy them.
Guns, what guns? He had guns?
Meet Mr. Lincoln arc welder. He turns useless gun metal into art.
If these words are ever used against me, I'm okay with that. Few of my gun fetishist relatives, friends, or exes made it through to the 21st century. A shocking number of them died by their own hand.
March 2, 2018
Summary: Empirical research on the causal effects of firearm availability on the risk of suicide is consistent with the claim that firearms increase suicide risk, but this research cannot yet rule out some other explanations for observed associations between guns and suicide. There are, however, theoretical or logical arguments for believing firearms elevate suicide risk that are sufficiently compelling that individuals and policymakers might reasonably choose to assume that gun availability does increase the risk of suicide.
https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/essays/firearm-availability-suicide.html
As this thread demonstrates, gun fetishes are disgusting.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)Maybe you are talking about me.
I'm just talking points of law. this lady used poor judgement and broke laws because other laws didn't suit her.
That's just a bad idea.
malaise
(267,799 posts)and the internet today
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)Doesn't end up tagging her a felon for life.
I have strong feelings on certain laws myself. Some that I violate on a regular basis (see my user name for a hint).
But discretion and common sense is why I don't march into the police station and announce my disregard.
I hope it works out for this woman, as she has the deck stacked against her.
hunter
(38,264 posts)Not here on DU, and not with the police, though fortunately with the police not so much past my early twenties when my life was pretty raw.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)keeping a gun is the same as keeping a slave?
hunter
(38,264 posts)As I said, gun fetishes are disgusting.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)feels about being owned?
hunter
(38,264 posts)Gun fetishes are disgusting.
You know the point I'm making.
Are you afraid for your guns?
Kaleva
(36,146 posts)who gained access to the premises by breaking and entering.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)But burglars generally don't take gun courses.
And they rob because it easier than working for those things.
Kaleva
(36,146 posts)If he did, he ignored part of what was taught. Guy had no business having guns and hopefully, he'll be prohibited from owning such for hte rest of his life.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)Convicted that is.
LiberalFighter
(50,486 posts)hack89
(39,171 posts)She had no legal right to break in.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)and used the cops to "fence" to loot.
And for justification she used "in fear of her life" from a guy that is sitting behind bars.
Lemme guess. She didn't consult a lawyer beforehand.
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)Sounds to me like she had reason to be afraid of him for herself and her children. How many murders of moms and children could have been stopped if the police had required all of the weapons in a household to be turned over.
Sounds to me like the police now have the weapons in safekeeping (like they keep evidence), and they are not selling them.
Oh, here's a DU post about a grandfather shooting his daughter over a baby gate:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212216007
sarisataka
(18,205 posts)Will he get the car back? Will anyone say anything if it is returned to him?
For the record- I believe he should be banned from owning firearms
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)Yes they do have the weapons for evidence. They will be critical in her robbery trial.
But I get your point. This guy shouldn't have access to those weapons. I agree with that. However at the moment he has no access to them and it's not even banned for him to own them since he's awaiting trial. Innocent until proven guilty and all that.
I'm not sure on what legal basis the police would have to search his home. The cops can't just search his home on her word alone. The cops need a warrant and probable cause. And since he's not accused of any gun crime, even if the cops had proof he owned them, it's a "so what?". He's sitting in jail, apart from weapons that he legally owns in a home he legally owns/rents.
Is that how it should be? Nope.
But the things are a matter of rule of law. She's just can't go break laws because other laws don't suit her.
She probably should have chatted with an attorney.
Kaleva
(36,146 posts)Caliman73
(11,690 posts)He was under a restraining order for domestic violence and he was in jail for what I assume is assault with a deadly weapon for trying to ram her with his car (right outside the courthouse I believe). His guns should have been removed legally by law enforcement. I understand her motive and reasoning, but breaking into his home and taking them is against the law. I hope that she gets a slap on the wrist and I hope he loses the guns for good.
It is Florida however so...
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)for her children's safety, now that the weapons are held by the police.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)I live in Florida. You should know how easy it is for someone to get a gun in Georgia and Florida. He could be let go at 11am and have the gun that he likely will kill her with by noon. It is insane.
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)Still, I think I'd try. The current charges against might help deprive him of an opportunity to buy more weapons.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)But he tried to hurt or kill that woman next. If nothing is done by authorities about that reality, he likely will find a way to kill her at some point. She is a fashion blogger, according to the article, she likely has youtube and social media presence, so going underground to hide from the guy would be difficult for her.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)But the cops aren't psychic. They can't confiscate guns they don't know about or have reasonable proof that exist. Unlikely that a home search warrant would have been issued based on her word alone in case that doesn't involve guns in the first place.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)that case being used as a deadly weapon, and she should have no concerns about him having guns?
Honestly, I hope that she gets the slightest slap on the wrist ever given, and that he gets his guns taken away as well as his right to be caught with a gun within six feet of him.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)Talking about points of law.
I have tons of concerns about alot of people. Almost none of which are actionable by police.
Without a witness or admission by her partner, the police were pretty much powerless here.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Florida laws can be strange. If she has a real cold fear of the guy, there is only so much that she can do. Looks like she moved to tip that balance a little.
The guy is in jail for trying to hurt or kill her, then he asked that charges be pressed for her taking his guns and giving them to police. Does not sound like a guy who has her best interests at heart, in fact, he sounds like a guy who would kill her in an instant if he could get away with it.
She did the right thing, even if the "law" says that it wasn't. I am not ok with stealing people's stuff, she didn't steal the guns, IMO, if she had they likely would never be found again. She took the guns and gave them to police, the same police who the guy had apparently refused to turn the guns in to.
hunter
(38,264 posts)My grandma had the good fortune of being a white woman when she was forcibly removed by police and paramedics from the home she fully owned. Otherwise they'd likely have shot her dead. But she still had her kitchen knives, and damn, she had some fierce knife skills. She knew how to neuter a man, if not with her tongue, than by bloodier means.
Cleaning out grandma's house, not easy because my grandma was a hoarder, my mom and my sister found another gun. Fortunately grandma hadn't remembered where she's stashed it when the cops knocked on her triple bolted steel door.
I'm a quarter of my grandma, sometimes just as paranoid, but I'll never need a gun because I don't let anyone I'd care to shoot live in my head.
I've shot food, as my grandmothers and great grandmothers did, but not in the 21st century.
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)Caliman73
(11,690 posts)In California, if you are the subject of a restraining order, especially for violence, you cannot possess firearms. Family can petition to have any firearms removed.
I understand that it is logistically difficult, but we are talking about a perpetrator that has already shown that he does not care about protective orders. I think LE needs to be proactive in that case. Though I am willing to bet there is no provision in Florida law that allows LE to remove firearms, hell, they'll probably give him a new one as he is leaving custody.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,815 posts)And fuck the law. If I felt like my children and myself were in real danger from this guy I would have stolen his guns. Only I would have found a river to throw them in.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)leftyladyfrommo
(18,815 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)settle with her to pay a small fine.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,815 posts)It's every day some violent asshole kills his significant other or his children.
I don't get it.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)News today travels the world within seconds. We see happenings that were not reported locally or nationally prior to the Internet and 24x7 news cycles.
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)Response to UniteFightBack (Reply #45)
Freelancer This message was self-deleted by its author.
no_hypocrisy
(45,771 posts)I had a client about a decade ago who was dating a women with issues.
He broke up with her and refused her phone calls. She started stalking him.
To get his attention, she called the police, claimed DV, and got a temporary restraining order.
While my client didn't own any weapons, guns, etc., the police raided HIS MOTHER'S HOUSE where he was staying, ACROSS THE STATE LINE (NY), and confiscated TWO RIFLES (non-operable) and a PISTOL that belonged to his late father. They actually belonged to his sister as the Will left them to her.
My client didn't know how to use any of these weapons but the police took them and still have them as he never bothered to pick them up.
Epilogue: We went to court and got the restraining order lifted as the ex-girlfriend (who claimed to be in fear of her safety) had contemporaneously sent a video of herself crying and begging my client to call her.