[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1541 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1541
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the
relationships among firearm violence, misogyny, and violence against
women, and reaffirming the importance of preventing individuals with a
history of violence against women from accessing a firearm.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 11, 2024
Ms. Moore of Wisconsin (for herself and Mrs. Dingell) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the
relationships among firearm violence, misogyny, and violence against
women, and reaffirming the importance of preventing individuals with a
history of violence against women from accessing a firearm.
Whereas more than 1 in 3 women have experienced some form of intimate partner
violence, including sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking,
according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline;
Whereas restricted access to reproductive justice places victims at greater risk
of intimate partner violence, according to the National Women's Law
Center;
Whereas the majority of intimate partner homicides follow incidents of physical
violence against the victim;
Whereas, between 1996 and 2020, 61 percent of female homicide victims were
killed by an intimate partner, according to the Violence Policy Center;
Whereas the U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence recognizes the
importance of addressing firearm violence in intimate partner
relationships in order to address and prevent gender-based violence;
Whereas, in recent years, cases have come before the United States Supreme
Court, including New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen,
United States v. Rahimi, and Garland v. Cargill, questioning the
constitutionality of existing gun safety measures, and demonstrating
that the current Court is open to arguments that challenge long-
guaranteed federal protections;
Whereas, during the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic violence incidents rose
nationally and globally, with this crisis disproportionately impacting
women;
Whereas, in February 2021, the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal
Justice (NCCCJ) reported that incidents of domestic violence increased
by 8.1 percent after lockdown orders were issued, police departments in
communities across the country received higher numbers of calls related
to domestic and family violence, and domestic violence homicides
increased by 4 percent in 2020;
Whereas American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Latina women are
disproportionately killed by firearm-related homicides;
Whereas, in the United States, approximately 4,500,000 women alive today have
been threatened by an intimate partner with a firearm and almost
1,000,000 women alive today have been shot, or shot at, by an intimate
partner, according to a 2020 analysis by Everytown for Gun Safety;
Whereas, nearly half of all female homicide victims between 2003 and 2014 were
killed by intimate partners, according to a 2017 study published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association;
Whereas homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant people, with nearly
7 out of 10 pregnancy-associated homicides involving a firearm;
Whereas homicide is the leading cause of death during pregnancy and postpartum,
and deaths from homicides are higher than deaths from sepsis,
hemorrhage, and hypertensive disorders, according to researchers from
the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health;
Whereas, according to the Giffords' Law Center, domestic abusers who have access
to a firearm are 5 times more likely to kill their partners;
Whereas domestic violence incidents involving a firearm are 12 times more likely
to be fatal than assaults involving other weapons or bodily force,
according to the Giffords' Law Center;
Whereas, an estimated three-quarters of intimate partner homicides in which
there were multiple victims involved a firearm;
Whereas a 2019 comparison of violent death rates among high-income countries
indicates that women in the United States are 21 times more likely to be
killed with a firearm than women in other high-income countries;
Whereas 91.6 percent of all women killed by firearms in high-income countries in
2019 were killed in the United States;
Whereas, of the 49 active shooter incidents reported by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in 2023, 98 percent involved a male shooter;
Whereas, an analysis by the Gun Violence Archive between 2014 and 2019 found
that domestic-violence mass shootings were associated with a greater
fatality rate, and that in more than two-thirds (68.2 percent) of mass
shootings analyzed, the perpetrator either killed family or intimate
partners, or had a history of domestic violence;
Whereas the perpetrator of the mass shooting in 2022 at Robb Elementary School
in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and 2 adults killed had an
extensive history of directing graphic and disturbing content at young
women online, had threatened female co-workers, and had shot his
grandmother, Celia ``Sally'' Gonzalez, and left her for dead prior to
the mass shooting;
Whereas, on May 26, 2021, 9 co-workers were killed at a rail yard in San Jose,
California, by a man who had an alleged history of domestic violence;
Whereas, on August 4, 2019, 9 people, including the gunman's sister, were killed
and 27 people were wounded when a shooter with a history of aggression
against women, including an incident in which he was suspended from high
school for possessing a list of female classmates he targeted for sexual
violence, opened fire in Dayton, Ohio;
Whereas, on November 5, 2017, 25 people were killed, including a pregnant woman,
and 20 people were wounded in Sutherland Springs, Texas, by a shooter
with an established history of domestic violence, including a prior
conviction for domestic violence against his wife and stepson and a
separate investigation into a rape complaint;
Whereas, on December 6, 2016, a mother and her 3 children were shot and killed
by a former dating partner who had been convicted of stalking a former
girlfriend and arrested for battery against a household member, but
continued to have access to firearms because of the ``boyfriend
loophole'' wherein he was not married to the women he abused;
Whereas, on June 12, 2016, 49 people were killed and 53 people were wounded when
a shooter who was physically abusive toward his wife, including by
allegedly beating her while she was pregnant, opened fire in the Pulse
nightclub in Orlando, Florida;
Whereas, on February 25, 2016, a gunman shot and killed 3 people and wounded 14
people in Newton and Hesston, Kansas, after being served with a
temporary protective order related to an abusive relationship;
Whereas, on May 23, 2014, 6 people were killed and 14 people were wounded in
Isla Vista, California, near the University of California, Santa
Barbara, by being stabbed or shot by, or struck by the vehicle of, a
self-identified member of the involuntary celibate, or incel, group of
men who blame women for their sexual frustrations and advocate for
violence against them, with the shooter uploading a video and publishing
a manifesto detailing his hatred toward women;
Whereas, on December 14, 2012, 26 students and teachers were killed in a mass
shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School after a shooter who previously
threatened the life of his mother shot and killed her at home;
Whereas 11 percent of background check denials are attributed to a misdemeanor
of domestic violence or a protective or restraining order, according to
the Bureau of Justice Statistics' most recent report on background
checks for firearm transfers;
Whereas the so-called ``Charleston Loophole'', which allows a licensed firearms
dealer to sell a firearm to a person after 3 business days even if the
background check is not complete, has allowed nearly 2,000 domestic
abusers to acquire firearms over the past 2 years;
Whereas a 2017 analysis of State firearm restrictions for perpetrators of
domestic violence found that firearm prohibition laws that apply to
dating partners are associated with a 16 percent reduction in intimate
partner homicide;
Whereas, under Federal law, domestic abusers are banned from possessing firearms
if they are married to, or have a child with, their partners, but
abusive dating partners are still not subject to final protective
orders, and intimate partners are just as likely to be killed by their
abusive dating partners as their abusive married spouses, according to
Everytown for Gun Safety; and
Whereas the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed into law by President Biden
on June 25, 2022, was the first meaningful firearm violence prevention
legislation enacted since the 1990s: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) acknowledges the need for legislation to better prevent
individuals with a history of violence against women from
purchasing or possessing a firearm; and
(2) supports further research into the relationships among
misogyny, violence against women, and firearm violence.
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