Gabby Giffords, Domestic Violence Prevention Leaders Applaud Reintroduction Of Bipartisan Proposal To Protect Women From Abusers & Stalkers With Guns
July 12, 2017 — Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the Co-Founder of the gun violence prevention organization Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS), and members of the Women’s Coalition for Common Sense today applauded the reintroduction of a bipartisan proposal, the Zero Tolerance for Domestic Abusers Act in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act in the U.S. Senate, that protects victims of domestic violence and stalking by helping keep guns out of the hands of abusers and convicted stalkers.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords:
Kim Gandy, President & CEO, the National Network to End Domestic Violence, and Advisory Committee member of the Women’s Coalition for Common Sense:
Katie Ray-Jones, CEO of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and Advisory Committee member of the Women’s Coalition for Common Sense:
Ruth Glenn, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Executive Director, and Advisory Committee member of the Women’s Coalition for Common Sense:
About the House-introduced Zero Tolerance for Domestic Abusers Act and the Senate-introduced Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act
The legislation makes two commonsense changes to federal law that currently make it easy for perpetrators of dating violence and those convicted of misdemeanor stalking to legally access guns. The bill would:
- Close the Loophole That Lets Perpetrators of Dating Violence Access Guns: Current federal law prohibits individuals convicted of domestic violence offenses from accessing firearms (including individuals who are a current or former spouse, parent, parent of a child in common, current or former cohabitant, or a personal similarly situated to a spouse, parent or guardian of the victim). But current federal law does not include perpetrators who abused current or former dating partners. With more unmarried people in non-cohabitating dating relationships, this gap leaves a significant number of abusers free to access firearms.
- Close the Loophole That Lets Some Convicted Stalkers Access Guns: Under current federal law, individuals convicted of felony stalking offenses are prohibited from accessing guns. But individuals convicted of misdemeanor stalking offenses are not prohibited. With many first-time felony offenses plead down to misdemeanor charges, and with stalking being a strong precursor to escalating violence, this legislation closes this gap in federal law, so that all individuals convicted of stalking offenses are prohibited from access firearms.
Background On The Nexus Of Domestic Violence, Dating Partner Abuse, Stalking And Access To Firearms
- Women in the United States are 11 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than women in other developed countries, and more than half of all murders of America’s women are committed with a gun. [National Domestic Violence Hotline]
- Abused women are five times more likely to be killed by their abuser if that individual has access to a firearm. [American Journal of Public Health]
- Domestic violence assaults involving a gun are twelve times more likely to result in death than those involving other weapons or bodily force. [Saltzman, Jun. 1992]
- In 2011, over half of women killed with guns were killed by their intimatepartners or family members. [U.S. Department of Justice]
- Sixty-six percent of female stalking victims were stalked by a current or former intimate partner. [Bureau of Justice Statistics, Jan. 2009]
- One study of female murder victims in 10 cities found that 76 percent of women murdered and 85 percent who survived a murder attempt by a current or former intimate partner experienced stalking in the year preceding the murder. [McFarlane, Nov. 1999]
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Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS) is committed to finding sensible ways to reduce gun violence and encouraging elected officials to enact responsible firearms policies. Founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and retired Navy combat veteran and NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, today ARS stands more than 800,000 strong. Learn more at www.responsiblesolutions.org and follow us at @Resp_Solutions.