[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 827 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 827
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the
relationships between 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 30, 2023
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 between 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, in
their lifetime, 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 previous incidents of
physical violence against the victim;
Whereas 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 gun violence in intimate partner relationships
in order to address and prevent gender-based violence;
Whereas 60 domestic violence and gender-based violence organizations filed a
survivor-story amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the case of United
States v. Rahimi, demonstrating that domestic violence abusers
frequently engage in a pattern of abusive conduct that includes the use
of firearms to control, terrorize, and sometimes kill their victims,
family members, and members of society at large;
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 reported higher calls related to domestic
violence 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 approximately 4,500,000 women alive today in the United States have been
threatened by an intimate partner with a firearm and almost 1,000,000
women report being shot or shot at by an intimate partner, according to
a 2016 study published in Trauma, Violence, and Abuse;
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 during pregnancy and postpartum,
and deaths from homicides are higher than deaths from sepsis,
hemorrhage, and hypertensive disorders, according to Harvard T.H. Chan
School of Public Health researchers;
Whereas, according to the Giffords' Law Center, domestic abusers who have access
to a gun are 5 times more likely to kill their partner;
Whereas domestic violence incidents involving a gun 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 involve 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
2015 were killed in the United States;
Whereas an analysis of active shooter incidents between 2000 and 2018 by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation found that 241 out of 250 incidents
involved a male shooter;
Whereas an analysis of mass shootings by Everytown for Gun Safety indicates that
in 54 percent of mass shootings in the United States between 2009 and
2017 in which 4 or more people were killed, the shooter killed a former
or current intimate partner or family member;
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 injured 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 by
being stabbed, shot, 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 in Isla Vista, California, near the
University of California, Santa Barbara;
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 having guns if they
are married to or have a child with their partner, 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; and
Whereas the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed into law by President Biden
on June 25, 2022, was the first meaningful gun violence prevention
legislation enacted in nearly 3 decades: 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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