“This wasn’t a gun bill — this is a bill to protect women,” said Lisette Johnson, a member of the Everytown Survivor Network and a survivor of domestic abuse. The vote highlighted the stark contrasts between the new Democratic majority, with its historic number of women, and the Republican minority, which has struggled to attract female voters and to increase the number of conservative women holding office on Capitol Hill. Democrats framed opposition to the legislation’s renewal as a denial of protections for survivors of abuse, efforts to prevent domestic violence and support for law enforcement. A number of Democrats, including Ms. Dingell and Representative Katie Porter of California, offered passionate defenses of the legislation, repeatedly drawing on their own experiences as survivors of domestic abuse. “Why would you not close that loophole?”

Source: New York Times April 04, 2019 16:22 UTC