Innocent until proven guilty...

A couple of years ago, I divorced my wife. The very next day she went to the County Attorney's office and had them file charges against me of 3 counts of P/FMA, filed a Protective Order against me, and, a week later, had them file 2 counts of Violation of Protective Order against me. From that point on, I was guilty, no doubt about it. I was fiancially unable to defend myself at the time and yet didn't qualify for Court appointed counsel, so I ended up on probation for 3 years via a plea bargain arrangement. 3 years probation is extremely harsh and virtually unheard of, even in cases where it actually happened. I was talking to an atty friend of mine a couple days ago about this "innocent until proven guilty" concept and her answer was:
"She proved you guilty of it."
"How did she do that, Anne?"
"She said you did it. In the system, that's proof."
"Well, Anne, I said she didn't. Isn't that proof?"
"No, after she 'proved' you did it by claiming you did, it became your job to 'outprove' her and prove you didn't."

BINGO!

"So, Anne, after her accusations, the burden of proof was upon the shoulders of the accused to prove my innocence, and not upon 'the system' to prove my guilt?"
"Well, um, not exactly. Kind of, but, well, you don't understand, blah, blah, blah."

So, I was technically convicted of beating my wife and kids based solely upon the word of a single, solitary person with no other supporting evidence whatsoever. This is scary as all hell, and remember this took place in Montana, not New Jersey or Massachusetts or Kalifornica.

Now, how 'bout the "rat off your neighbor", "rat off your patients", "rat off your client", "rat off mommy & daddy", programs that are popping up all over... When firearms are banned, and they will be 'cuz nobody will have the balls to physically fight such a battle or even organize such a thing, all it will take is the word of the neighbor you pissed off last week that you have a handgun, and off to jail you'll go. Or your second grader telling the teacher that, "My dad has a gun", or... well, the word of anybody, and you're off to jail.

And what about the Brady Law and loss of firearms rights due to accusations of DV? It sure didn't slow OJ down any, and certainly wouldn't slow down someone who is intent on doing it. I am temporarily barred the right to own/possess even a .22lr, yet I can legally buy high-pressure pneumatic rifles capable of firing a .177, .20, .22, .or .25 caliber pellet over 1000 fps or even a 9mm, 60 grain pellet at a velocity of nearly 1000 fps... Why did these arms get "left out"? Or are they next on the list? In some states they are already treated the same as conventional firearms! Would it be that much less of a crime if someone were to kill a person with an air rifle? Or a crossbow? Or a rock? Would they be "less dead" in such an event? Am I preaching to the choir? Have I had too much coffee today? Can I have another cookie? Are we there yet?