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"We need specific systems to remove weapons from dangerous people, including laws allowing law enforcement to seize weapons found while responding to reports of intimate partner violence." (Photo: MarylandGovPics / Flickr )
One No-Brainer Way to Bring Gun Deaths Down
Closing the "boyfriend loophole" would save lives without putting guns in classrooms or taking them off store shelves.
Mar 28, 2018
It's now been over a month since 17 teenagers were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, culminating in a march that brought nearly a million people to the capital. Yet Congress is still dragging its feet on guns.
While Republicans and Democrats gridlocked over the best way to prevent shootings, the Oregon state legislature took action to prevent a particularly deadly form of gun violence -- and it didn't involve arming teachers or outlawing AR-15s.
Just one day after the devastating Valentine's Day shooting in Florida, the Oregon House of Representatives passed a bill to close what's called the "boyfriend loophole" in its gun laws. The new law will prevent anyone from buying or owning a firearm who's been convicted of stalking or domestic violence, as well as people with active protective orders against them.
Over 1,000 women are murdered each year by current or past husbands or partners -- that's three women a day, or one woman dead each time you sit down for a meal.
While federal law is already supposed to prevent gun ownership by domestic abusers, the law's outdated definition left out those who didn't live with or have children with their victims -- hence, the boyfriend loophole.
While this news received relatively little coverage, it's a huge step forward and will unquestionably save lives. Over 1,000 women are murdered each year by current or past husbands or partners -- that's three women a day, or one woman dead each time you sit down for a meal.
And though the story of the battered wife is not an unfamiliar one, a recent study at the University of Pennsylvania found that over 80 percent of intimate partner violence incidents reported in 2013 involved current or past dating partners, while current and past spouses accounted for less than 20 percent of incidents.
As Americans continue to get married later and less frequently, the nationwide population of unmarried adults will grow, which is why closing the boyfriend loophole should be a top priority for lawmakers across the country.
Oregon's new law makes it the 24th state to officially close the loophole, but there's still much work to be done. The federal law prohibiting gun ownership for abusers doesn't actually outline a mechanism for them to hand over weapons they already own.
13 states have no laws at all to prevent domestic abusers from owning or buying new guns. Six of those states are in the top 10 with the highest rates of gun deaths.
Twenty-seven states require convicted abusers and those subject to protective orders to relinquish their firearms, but only half of those specify whom the weapons should be given to. And just four require law enforcement to proactively remove guns from offenders rather than wait for them to be turned in.
Meanwhile, 13 states have no laws at all to prevent domestic abusers from owning or buying new guns. Six of those states are in the top 10 with the highest rates of gun deaths.
Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Dan Donovan (R-NY), along with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), have introduced legislation to close the boyfriend loophole on the federal level. But that alone won't be enough to ensure that abusers don't have access to deadly firearms.
We need thoroughness and uniformity across state lines. We need specific systems to remove weapons from dangerous people, including laws allowing law enforcement to seize weapons found while responding to reports of intimate partner violence.
We need legislation requiring law enforcement agencies to report offenders for inclusion in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
And, of course, we need universal background checks on all gun sales, no matter where they occur.
Survivors everywhere deserve support, security, and peace of mind, and it's long past time our laws reflect that fact.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Aniqa Raihan
Aniqa Raihan is a senior at the George Washington University and an intern with CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She gets fired up about feminism and politics. She can be reached at aniqa@codepink.org.
It's now been over a month since 17 teenagers were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, culminating in a march that brought nearly a million people to the capital. Yet Congress is still dragging its feet on guns.
While Republicans and Democrats gridlocked over the best way to prevent shootings, the Oregon state legislature took action to prevent a particularly deadly form of gun violence -- and it didn't involve arming teachers or outlawing AR-15s.
Just one day after the devastating Valentine's Day shooting in Florida, the Oregon House of Representatives passed a bill to close what's called the "boyfriend loophole" in its gun laws. The new law will prevent anyone from buying or owning a firearm who's been convicted of stalking or domestic violence, as well as people with active protective orders against them.
Over 1,000 women are murdered each year by current or past husbands or partners -- that's three women a day, or one woman dead each time you sit down for a meal.
While federal law is already supposed to prevent gun ownership by domestic abusers, the law's outdated definition left out those who didn't live with or have children with their victims -- hence, the boyfriend loophole.
While this news received relatively little coverage, it's a huge step forward and will unquestionably save lives. Over 1,000 women are murdered each year by current or past husbands or partners -- that's three women a day, or one woman dead each time you sit down for a meal.
And though the story of the battered wife is not an unfamiliar one, a recent study at the University of Pennsylvania found that over 80 percent of intimate partner violence incidents reported in 2013 involved current or past dating partners, while current and past spouses accounted for less than 20 percent of incidents.
As Americans continue to get married later and less frequently, the nationwide population of unmarried adults will grow, which is why closing the boyfriend loophole should be a top priority for lawmakers across the country.
Oregon's new law makes it the 24th state to officially close the loophole, but there's still much work to be done. The federal law prohibiting gun ownership for abusers doesn't actually outline a mechanism for them to hand over weapons they already own.
13 states have no laws at all to prevent domestic abusers from owning or buying new guns. Six of those states are in the top 10 with the highest rates of gun deaths.
Twenty-seven states require convicted abusers and those subject to protective orders to relinquish their firearms, but only half of those specify whom the weapons should be given to. And just four require law enforcement to proactively remove guns from offenders rather than wait for them to be turned in.
Meanwhile, 13 states have no laws at all to prevent domestic abusers from owning or buying new guns. Six of those states are in the top 10 with the highest rates of gun deaths.
Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Dan Donovan (R-NY), along with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), have introduced legislation to close the boyfriend loophole on the federal level. But that alone won't be enough to ensure that abusers don't have access to deadly firearms.
We need thoroughness and uniformity across state lines. We need specific systems to remove weapons from dangerous people, including laws allowing law enforcement to seize weapons found while responding to reports of intimate partner violence.
We need legislation requiring law enforcement agencies to report offenders for inclusion in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
And, of course, we need universal background checks on all gun sales, no matter where they occur.
Survivors everywhere deserve support, security, and peace of mind, and it's long past time our laws reflect that fact.
Aniqa Raihan
Aniqa Raihan is a senior at the George Washington University and an intern with CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She gets fired up about feminism and politics. She can be reached at aniqa@codepink.org.
It's now been over a month since 17 teenagers were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, culminating in a march that brought nearly a million people to the capital. Yet Congress is still dragging its feet on guns.
While Republicans and Democrats gridlocked over the best way to prevent shootings, the Oregon state legislature took action to prevent a particularly deadly form of gun violence -- and it didn't involve arming teachers or outlawing AR-15s.
Just one day after the devastating Valentine's Day shooting in Florida, the Oregon House of Representatives passed a bill to close what's called the "boyfriend loophole" in its gun laws. The new law will prevent anyone from buying or owning a firearm who's been convicted of stalking or domestic violence, as well as people with active protective orders against them.
Over 1,000 women are murdered each year by current or past husbands or partners -- that's three women a day, or one woman dead each time you sit down for a meal.
While federal law is already supposed to prevent gun ownership by domestic abusers, the law's outdated definition left out those who didn't live with or have children with their victims -- hence, the boyfriend loophole.
While this news received relatively little coverage, it's a huge step forward and will unquestionably save lives. Over 1,000 women are murdered each year by current or past husbands or partners -- that's three women a day, or one woman dead each time you sit down for a meal.
And though the story of the battered wife is not an unfamiliar one, a recent study at the University of Pennsylvania found that over 80 percent of intimate partner violence incidents reported in 2013 involved current or past dating partners, while current and past spouses accounted for less than 20 percent of incidents.
As Americans continue to get married later and less frequently, the nationwide population of unmarried adults will grow, which is why closing the boyfriend loophole should be a top priority for lawmakers across the country.
Oregon's new law makes it the 24th state to officially close the loophole, but there's still much work to be done. The federal law prohibiting gun ownership for abusers doesn't actually outline a mechanism for them to hand over weapons they already own.
13 states have no laws at all to prevent domestic abusers from owning or buying new guns. Six of those states are in the top 10 with the highest rates of gun deaths.
Twenty-seven states require convicted abusers and those subject to protective orders to relinquish their firearms, but only half of those specify whom the weapons should be given to. And just four require law enforcement to proactively remove guns from offenders rather than wait for them to be turned in.
Meanwhile, 13 states have no laws at all to prevent domestic abusers from owning or buying new guns. Six of those states are in the top 10 with the highest rates of gun deaths.
Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Dan Donovan (R-NY), along with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), have introduced legislation to close the boyfriend loophole on the federal level. But that alone won't be enough to ensure that abusers don't have access to deadly firearms.
We need thoroughness and uniformity across state lines. We need specific systems to remove weapons from dangerous people, including laws allowing law enforcement to seize weapons found while responding to reports of intimate partner violence.
We need legislation requiring law enforcement agencies to report offenders for inclusion in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
And, of course, we need universal background checks on all gun sales, no matter where they occur.
Survivors everywhere deserve support, security, and peace of mind, and it's long past time our laws reflect that fact.
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