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  • 2019-04-04 (xsd:date)
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  • Did the NRA Oppose Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in April 2019? (en)
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  • The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a series of laws affecting multiple areas of the Federal Code, was first signed into law in 1994. The act provided federal funds for services offered to survivors of domestic and sexual violence, created the Office on Violence Against Women within the Justice Department, enhanced the training of law enforcement officers in the area of sexual and domestic violence, and strengthened penalties for certain sexual crimes (including requiring perpetrators of sexual violence to pay restitution to their victims). VAWA has been reauthorized several times since 1994, often with adjustments or modifications. In December 2018, authorization for the Violence Against Women Act lapsed during negotiations over ending a federal government shutdown, as reported by Washington Post at the time: VAWA was briefly reauthorized on a temporary basis as part of a continuing resolution passed on 25 January 2019, but it lapsed once again three weeks later. In April 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation to reauthorize the act with modifications that, among other things, lowered the criminal threshold for barring the purchase of firearms by closing the so-called boyfriend loophole and restricting the sale of guns to individuals convicted of stalking, as described by NPR: The National Rifle Association (NRA) opposed these putative changes (which we have displayed in full below this fact check) and as a result called on lawmakers to oppose reauthorization of VAWA as proposed in a House bill: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, in a speech delivered on the floor of the House, highlighted a National Coalition Against Domestic Violence statistic showing that presence of a gun increased the risk of homicide in a domestic violence situations by 500%: On 4 April 2019, the House passed the inclusion of the gun purchase amendments to VAWA in the face of the NRA’s opposition, as reported by the New York Times: This legislation headed to the Senate, where, the Times reported, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein and Republican Senator Joni Ernst would lead an effort to pass their version of VAWA’s reintroduction. Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code (Existing text, Deleted text, Added text): Section 922 of title 18, United States Code (Existing text, Deleted text, Added text) (en)
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