Proposed bill would expand gun ban in domestic abuse cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bill introduced in Congress is intended to protect domestic abuse victims from gun violence, according to an announcement by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington.

The Lori Jackson — Nicolette Elias Domestic Violence Survivor Protection Act would widen the range of accused abusers who are not allowed to possess firearms, according to the announcement.

The bill is named for two women who were both shot and killed by their abusive, estranged partners even after securing emergency restraining orders, according to the announcement: Lori Jackson, from Oxford, Conn.; and Nicolette Elias from Portland, Ore.

Jackson was a 32-year-old mother of two who fled her home with her two children and filed for a restraining order to protect her family from her estranged husband, the announcement said. She moved in with her mother and the court granted her a temporary protective order while she waited for a hearing to obtain a permanent restraining order. The day before the hearing was scheduled, Jackson’s husband shot and killed her and injured her mother using a gun he legally possessed because a permanent protective order was not yet in place.

Elias was a 46-year-old mother of two young daughters who for years sought and secured restraining orders and temporary stalking orders against her estranged and abusive ex-husband, according to the announcement. She was murdered by her former spouse in front of their children with a handgun that he refused to relinquish. He then forced their daughters out of the home, past their mother’s body, and kidnapped them, taking them to his own home. There, later that day, he took his own life, shooting himself in the chest in front of the police.

The legislation would expand on a provision in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that denies firearm sales to dating partners with misdemeanor domestic violence convictions, not just abusers who had been married to, lived with, or had children with their victim, according to the announcement. Current federal law protects domestic violence survivors from gun violence by preventing their abusers from purchasing or possessing a firearm — but only once the court has issued a final restraining order. Further, the current definition of “intimate partner” used to prohibit respondents to restraining orders from purchasing or possessing a firearm includes spouses, former spouses, people with a child in common and cohabitants. However, there are many survivors of dating violence who were never married, do not live with their abuser, and have no children.

The bill would also establish a new grant program to help state and local governments implement policies that keep firearms out of the hands of domestic violence perpetrators while they are subject to a temporary or emergency restraining order, the announcement said. These policies include requiring an alleged domestic violence abuser to surrender or sell any firearm or ammunition in their possession; revoking their permit or license to purchase, possess or carry a firearm or ammunition while the restraining order is in effect; and requiring that a background check to be performed before any firearm or ammunition is returned to the person subject to the restraining order.

“Supporting and protecting survivors of domestic violence is absolutely essential, and there are common-sense steps Congress could take today to build on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and keep guns out of the hands of abusive partners,” Murray wrote in the announcement. “Each month, an average of 70 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner — and by restricting those under emergency domestic violence restraining orders from purchasing or possessing a firearm, we can save lives.”