Epitaph for Christina final, fitting tribute

Two weeks ago Harold Gray used his shotgun to write what he hoped would be his wife’s epitaph in bullets and blood on a street in Patten. He killed Christina Gray, 24, her sister Vicki, 19, and then himself. In doing so he hoped that Christina’s epitaph would read, “If I cannot have her, no one can.”

While 24 is too young for anyone to have an epitaph, Christina’s epitaph should not to be left to the man who killed her because she tried to leave him. The duty of writing a different epitaph for Christina Gray belongs to the Maine Legislature, which can fulfill that duty by passing what should become known in Maine as Christina’s Law.

Christina’s Law is now just an untitled bill before the Maine Legislature. Her death should give it a name, and a face, and a guarantee of passage. The bill would require that guns be removed from the possession of a person (boyfriend, husband, wife, etc) against whom a judge has issued a “permanent” (two year) protection from abuse order. It would also give a judge the discretion to remove guns from the possession of a person against whom the judge has issued a temporary protection. Current Maine law is unclear on the issue of whether a judge can remove guns in a temporary protection case, and allows judicial discretion in permanent protection cases.

Truth be told, there could be many names for Christina’s Law. It could be Brandi’s Law, Alison’s Law, or Michael’s Law; every year in Maine angry partners about to get left behind use guns to kill another 10 to 20 Christinas. The killers are almost always men, the victims are almost always women, and the epitaphs are rarely remembered. Christina Gray’s epitaph should be different. With any luck, Harold Gray’s shotgun also killed most of the objections that have defeated previous attempts to pass a law that might have prevented Christina’s death.

Those objections have come largely from opponents of gun control who are fearful that any gun control for any reason is a step toward total control. It is time such opponents stopped reflexively standing in the way of reasonable steps to reduce gun violence, for in doing so they stand inadvertently on the side of the Harold Grays of this world, and sacrifice the Christinas to their cause.

The other arguments against Christina’s Law should be shot full of holes and buried. Opponents have argued that judges would be taking away guns that some people need for hunting, to put food on the table. Talk about a dog that will not hunt. A man (usually) who has been so threatening that a judge has issued a permanent protection order has demonstrated he cannot be trusted in the woods with a gun, let alone in the home with a gun. The Second Amendment was never intended to protect a right to bear arms when there is a reasonable chance that a gun will be used to put a woman in the ground instead of food on the table.

Others will argue that a gun control law is not the solution to domestic violence. No one ever said that it was. Domestic violence is a tremendously complex problem that requires many solutions. The lack of a single, definitive solution should not be used to argue against partial solutions. Christina’s Law is one of the many pieces of the solution, the one designed to put a little distance between deadly anger and lethal conflict resolution.

Christina’s Law desperately needs its own protection this year in the Maine Legislature. It needs supporters to stand up for Christina Gray, and for past and future victims of domestic violence. Those supporters must include Gov. King and the state police and medical associations, but most importantly, they must include the rest of us. We must speak for those who cannot speak from behind walls of violence and fear, and for those who cannot speak from the grave.

The best way to do that is to call your legislator in Augusta at 1-800-423-6900 for the Senate or 1-800-423-2900 for the House and tell that legislator you are calling for Christina. Ask them to have at least as much courage on this issue as it takes for a woman to leave an abusive spouse.

If you do, when lobbyists for the National Rifle Association and other opponents threaten trouble at the next election for legislative supporters of the bill, the best legislators will stand firm and tell the bill’s opponents that this is not about them. This is about Christina’s Law, the best epitaph that can be written for a wife killed at age 24 by an angry husband with a gun and no guts.

Erik Steele, D.O. is the administrator for emergency services at Eastern Maine Medical Center and is on the staff for emergency department coverage at six hospitals in the Bangor Daily News coverage area.