LTE – JoAnn Utphall – 1-5-2022
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The ‘Violence Against Women Act’ (VAWA) that passed the House (H.R. 1620) is being unveiled in the Senate by Dianne Feinstein. VAWA is promoted as creating and supporting comprehensive, cost-effective responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking.
There are some points in this bill that could have unintentional consequences. One key provision is a requirement that the FBI send an incident report to local law enforcement any time a gun owner fails a NICS check, encouraging local authorities to open a criminal investigation. It has been estimated that 94% of NICS denials are false positives, meaning that tens of thousands of gun owners could possibly be harassed for nothing if this language remains in the VAWA!
VAWA also allows gun owners to be declared a ‘prohibited person’ and disarmed for life for a misdemeanor conviction of stalking. Stalking is bad so I am not defending stalking. However would this open the door for adding other misdemeanors, in the future, as grounds for being declared a prohibited person? And what if the person is actually innocent or maybe a drunken misjudgment – something that person would not have done if sober? How cumbersome would it be to prove innocence?
The VAWA also changes the definitions of who can be prosecuted under federal domestic violence statues by stating that anyone in a ‘social relationship’ would meet these parameters. Worst case scenario: when a person is hurting from a break up, one of them calls the cops as revenge against the other and makes false claims.
There are a few odd things in the bill too. One is funding a $40 million authorization for the Culturally Specific Services Program. Another item is “restorative justice practices” that focuses on victim autonomy or agency. What does that have to do with domestic abuse dealing with women?
There are many good points to the bill but we have to make sure we don’t put items in the bill that have unintentional consequences that hurt innocent people.
JoAnn Utphall
Boyceville