The National Rifle Association (NRA) has urged Republicans to oppose the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) due to a provision based on Klobuchar’s legislation to prevent abusive dating partners and convicted stalkers from buying or owning a gun
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) released this statement following the announcement that negotiations to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act have broken down due to a provision based on Klobuchar’s legislation that prohibits abusive dating partners and convicted stalkers from buying or owning a gun – commonsense updates to federal law that many states have already adopted. The Violence Against Women Act, first passed in 1994 and reauthorized with bipartisan support in 2000, 2005, and 2013, is a landmark piece of legislation that sought to improve criminal justice and community-based responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in the United States. The legislation has ensured that victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking have been able to access support services, and brought a new understanding that domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking are crimes that our society will not tolerate. The House passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act with bipartisan support in April, with support from 33 House Republicans.
“The Violence Against Women Act has been reauthorized by bipartisan majorities in the House and the Senate for decades. This is about saving lives and protecting survivors of abuse, not politics or party lines. The Senate has already waited over 200 days to take up the bill to reauthorize VAWA passed by the House with bipartisan support. I’m outraged that Senate Republicans are taking direction from the NRA and will hold up the bill over my commonsense provision to update federal law to protect dating partners and prevent convicted stalkers from buying a gun. Every minute that we wait to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, we put another life at risk.”
Klobuchar is a national leader in the fight to prevent domestic violence. She is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and prior to her time in the Senate, Klobuchar served as Hennepin County Attorney. The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act passed by the House of Representatives includes a provision based on Klobuchar’s Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act to close what is commonly referred to as the ‘boyfriend loophole’ by preventing abusive dating partners from buying or owning a gun. The bill would also prevent convicted stalkers from possessing a gun—commonsense updates to federal law that many states have already adopted.
In 2018, Klobuchar and Cornyn’s SAFER Act—legislation that would reauthorize, strengthen, and extend the Sexual Assault Forensic Registry program in an effort to help reduce the national rape kit backlog—was signed into law. In 2016, the Klobuchar-backed bipartisan Justice for All Reauthorization Act was signed into law. The law strengthens the rights of crime victims by providing the protection they need to restore their lives and enhances law enforcement’s ability to proactively stop violent criminals. The Justice for All Reauthorization Act also aims to reduce the rape kit backlog by supporting grant programs that fund forensic testing.
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