Katalusis: Santa Barbara and the War on Women

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Santa Barbara and the War on Women

Hi Friends,

Watch Elliot Rodgers on YouTube and then sign the petition below.

Thanks, Virginia

Heidi Hess, CREDO Action

Wed, May 28, 2014 at 9:53 AM

Santa Barbara and the War on Women

Tell pro-NRA senators:
"Stop selling out women to the NRA. Support the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act."

Automatically add your name:

Dear Virginia,

Mix the NRA’s pro-gun-at-any-cost advocacy, the Republican War on Women, and a broken mental health care system and what we just saw in Santa Barbara is the shocking but not unsurprising result.

In the wake of last week’s misogyny-fueled mass shooting, legislation is gathering momentum that would strengthen our nation's domestic violence laws and help save women's lives. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mazie Hirono have introduced the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act to make it harder for people with a history of domestic violence and stalking to buy a gun.

What happened in Santa Barbara was not an isolated incident. In fact, the majority of mass shootings in this country are domestic violence incidents that target women.¹ Think of them as the War on Women, weaponized. And if the NRA gets its way and defeats this bill, we can be sure of more anti-woman rampages to come.

Tell pro-NRA senators who cravenly voted to block an up-or-down vote on background checks in the wake of Newtown to say no to the NRA and support the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act. Click here to automatically sign the petition.
There are a lot of common sense reforms we need -- like universal background checks, a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, and limits on high capacity ammunition magazines.² But nothing will change for everyday Americans unless we break the NRA’s chokehold on Congress. Klobuchar’s legislation to protect women won’t even get an up-or-down vote in the Senate, let alone pass, if politicians who are in the pocket of the NRA filibuster the bill. There’s no reason to expect that pro-NRA senators will act differently now than they did after Newtown unless they feel enormous pressure from their constituents.³

The fact is, women are the target of far too many shootings in America. Driven by misogyny and enabled by lax or non-existent gun laws, gunmen channel their rage into shooting women. The presence of a gun in domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a women will be killed.⁴

The Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act works in two key ways:

It would add criminals convicted of stalking crimes to the group of people prohibited from buying guns, which already includes felons and the severely mentally ill.

It would prohibit people who abuse their dating partners from buying guns – rather than just those who abuse their spouses.

The bill only represents a small step towards the reform we need to see. Right now it’s easier for domestic abusers and the mentally ill to obtain semi-automatic weapons than to access treatment. At a minimum we should be able to pass mandatory background checks, but the NRA has blocked this commonsense reform at every turn. What is possible in this moment -- when a mass shooting has highlighted the deadly War on Women in our culture -- is to pass a bill that would make it more difficult for domestic violence perpetrators and stalkers to obtain the weapons that make it much more likely that the targets of their abuse will be murdered.
Senators who put the NRA’s agenda above the will and needs of their constituents are, to use the words of Richard Martinez, the father of one of last week’s victims, “craven and irresponsible.” Senators who have folded to the NRA before need to hear from concerned Americans today. Click the link below to automatically sign the petition:
http://act.credoaction.com/go/4429?t=5&akid=10799.4080287.qTJqSE
Heidi Hess, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

Automatically add your name:

Learn more about this campaign