[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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