Bill/Issue: HR 1585 - “VAWA” Reauthorization and CDC Funding

  • Position: Opposed
  • Author: Rep. Bass (D-CA-37)

Summary: REPUBLICAN backed HR 1585, aka the “Violence Against Women Act” (VAWA), is a bill that is supposed to be about protecting women. However, the House of Representatives has decided to use this bill as a front for expanding extremely harmful gun regulations.

HR 1585 includes legislation for ex-parte gun confiscation, lifetime gun bans for misdemeanor charges, and would fund the CDC to do biased research on “Gun Violence”.

VAWA starts by expanding the list of persons who can file restraining orders against you to include vague definitions like “dating partners”. Meaning that VAWA will allow anyone who briefly interacted you to potentially file a restraining order. VAWA then allows for these restraining orders to be submitted to the court ex-parte (without your knowledge or ability to defend yourself). There, the court will hear a one-sided argumentation that will lead to ALL OF YOUR FIREARMS BEING CONFISCATED. More than likely, the court will then order “itchy trigger finger” law enforcement to come and confiscate your guns. This would leave you vulnerable to the police raiding your house, tear gassing your children, and shooting your dog. All of this based on the word of a possibly spiteful “dating partner” who you never called back.

VAWA also seeks to expand the list of people prohibited from owning a firearm to include those convicted of stalking. Stalking can be anything that “would reasonably be expected to cause emotional distress”. This can include something as benign as excessive phone calling. Meaning that if you and your domestic partner get into a fight and you call her one too many times then you can have your fundamental right to bear arms stripped from you FOR LIFE.

HR 1585 then allows the CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL to do inherently biased research on gun violence that will almost certainly be used to further justify more gun control.

With all this dangerous legislation in HR 1585, 33 Republican Representatives chose to ignore your rights and needlessly vote to pass HR 1585 through the house. HR 1585 now moves over for a Senate vote, a Senate whose moral backbone is in question when it comes to protecting the Second Amendment and the Bill of Rights.

HR 1585 is one of the most dangerous anti-rights bill in Congress. Make sure the Republican Senate doesn’t cave using our Take Action Form Below: