Meleanie Hain, Who Gained National Attention for Bringing Loaded Gun to Soccer Match in 2008, Dies of Apparent Murder-Suicide with Husband Scott Hain

Meleanie Hain, a soccer mom who gained national attention when she openly carried a loaded gun to her five year old daughter's game on Sept. 11, 2008, was shot to death yesterday, along with her husband, Scott Hain. The deaths are being classified by law enforcement as a murder-suicide. The couple, who have three children, were pronounced dead Wednesday night at their home in Lebanon, a small city about 80 miles west of Philadelphia.

The three children were home at the time but weren't hurt, police said. A neighbor said the couple had been experiencing marital problems for about a week. According to media reports, the neighbor said Scott Hain had left the couple's home on Tuesday, and Meleanie Hain didn't know where he was, but he returned Wednesday.

Many parents were upset at the sight of Mrs. Hain's gun during the soccer game in 2008. The county sheriff, Michael DeLeo, revoked her gun-carrying permit nine days later. She successfully appealed the permit revocation, although the judge who restored the permit had some real reservations about her judgment. She sued the sheriff in federal court, alleging that he violated her constitutional rights and prosecuted her maliciously when he took the permit away. She said that because of his actions her baby-sitting service had suffered, her children had been harassed and she had been ostracized by her neighbors in Lebanon.

Sorry, it was just crazy to bring a gun to a soccer match. What was she trying to prove? Well, to echo a famous phrase -- you live by the sword and die by the sword. The very thing she thought was so right to bring to a soccer game, seems to have taken her life and will, undoubtedly, have an adverse effect on the lives of her three children.

Photo source: Meleanie Hain, NY Daily News