Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords & Captain Mark Kelly Applaud the Passage of a Bipartisan

[billh58]

Commonsense Bill That Closes Gaps in New Jersey Law and Helps Keep Guns Out of the Hands of Domestic Abusers.
- Jan 9th, 2017

“Today, the Garden State became a safer place to live. This is a real victory for the kind of common sense and bipartisanship that our country needs a lot more of. We are grateful to leaders from both parties who sent this responsible proposal to Governor Christie’s desk – and we are grateful to Governor Christie for signing this life-saving legislation,” said Congresswoman Giffords and Captain Kelly. “We also want to say thank you to all of the Americans for Responsible Solutions supporters, community leaders, and domestic violence prevention advocates in New Jersey who urged their elected officials in Trenton to help protect women and families from abusers’ with guns.”

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ABOUT THE NEXUS OF GUN VIOLENCE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Women in the United States Are Eleven Times More Likely to be Murdered with a Gun than Women in Other Developed Countries. More than half of all murders of America’s women are committed with a gun. (Centers for Disease Control, 2012) More than two-thirds of spouse and ex-spouse homicide victims between 1980 and 2008 were killed with firearms. [Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011] In 2013, a gun was the most commonly used weapon in a murder of a woman by a man. (Violence Policy Center, 2015)

Abused Women in the United States are Five Times More Likely to be Killed by Their Abuser if That Individual has Access to a Gun.(Centers for Disease Control, 2012)

Nearly Half of Murders by an Intimate Partner Are Committed by a Dating Partner – but the “Boyfriend Gap” in Federal Law Lets Abusive Dating Partners Access Guns: From 2009 to 2010, 48.6 percent of all intimate partner homicides were committed by a dating partner. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011) 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 person similarly situated to a spouse, parent or guardian of the victim. But federal law does not include perpetrators who abused current or former dating partners from accessing guns. With more women choosing to marry later in life and living in non-cohabitating dating relationships, this gap leaves a significant number of abusers free to access firearms. (Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence)

http://americansforresponsiblesolutions.org/2017/01/09/nj-dv-s2483/

The trend continues, and common sense gun control takes another step towards sanity and the common good.

[SunSeeker]

1. K & R