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'This will go a long way to helping survivors be free': Advocates laud 'boyfriend loophole' fix in senate gun reform bill

Taurean Small - Spectrum News

WASHINGTON — The deal reached by a bipartisan group of senators on federal gun reforms would allow authorities to take guns away from more perpetrators of domestic violence. Survivors are living in fear on a daily basis if the person that they're in a relationship with is threatening them with a firearm,” Monica McLaughlin, Director of Public Policy at the National Network to End Domestic Violence said. “I mean, it's terrifying and they know that perpetrators make good on these threats.”

Federal law bans domestic abusers who are married to, share a child with or live with their victim from owning a gun. The bipartisan proposal would extend that restriction to dating partners convicted of domestic violence but not living with the victim, closing what’s known as the boyfriend loophole.

“We think about what can we do as a society to reduce those tools that the perpetrators have to really have control over survivor,” said McLaughlin.“We think about what can we do as a society to reduce those tools that the perpetrators have to really have control over survivor,” said McLaughlin. “And I think this will go a long way to helping survivors be free.”

For years, lawmakers have been trying to close the boyfriend loophole without success. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, a domestic violence survivor championed the provision in the House Bipartisan Background Checks Act (H.R.8) and the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (H.R. 1585). After the announcement of a framework in the Senate, she expressed cautious optimism.

“I will keep working with my colleagues to enact meaningful reforms that free all of our communities from the constant threat of random gun violence and violent crime,” Rep. Moore wrote in a statement to Spectrum News.

The measure was stripped from the final version of the Violence Against Women Act before President Joe Biden signed it into law in March. Sen. Joni Earnst, R-Iowa, a domestic abuse survivor, previously stalled the rule change, concerned it would violate the rights of those accused of abuse.

“I think that the way in which the law is crafted, the persons have to go to court and be adjudicated, so I don't think that claim holds up,” McLaughlin said.

The language of the gun reform package still must be finalized. But if that hurdle can be cleared, the 10 Republican senators who signed off on the deal are enough to allow the legislation to overcome any filibuster.