Commentary: We must keep guns away from domestic abusers

It has been decades since I was held at gunpoint by an abusive boyfriend. It is a trauma that never leaves you.

I tried everything I could think of to calm him down and reassure him that I would never leave him. But he knew I would leave the first moment I could. And so, for two days, he held my son and me hostage -- sometimes waving his gun in the air, sometimes laying it on the coffee table pointed in my direction, and sometimes screaming and putting the gun to my head.

When he ran out of cigarettes, he demanded I get a new pack at the convenience store around the corner. He made me leave my son with him to make sure I came back and that I didn't call the police. Like so many survivors, I didn't call the police, and it would be years before I told a single person about these two days of terror.

This may sound like an extreme situation, but the data on gun violence says it's all too common. More than half of the women in the U.S. who are killed by guns are murdered by their partner. That's 50 women, every month, who are shot and killed by a current or former boyfriend or spouse, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

That's why the debate around the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is so deeply troubling to me. I managed to stay alive and ultimately escape that abusive relationship, but so many women are not that lucky.

Republicans in the Senate have blocked a vote on VAWA because it closes a glaring loophole -- the so-called "boyfriend loophole" -- by stopping convicted stalkers and abusive dating partners from having a gun.

You might be wondering how this could be controversial.

Current law, passed on a bipartisan basis in 1996, prohibits gun ownership by domestic abusers who are married to or living with their partners, or who have children with them. But this law left a dangerous loophole that allows convicted stalkers and violent dating partners to get a gun at will.

Today, Republicans in the Senate and the gun lobby claim that closing the loophole would somehow violate Americans' Second Amendment rights.

That is nonsense. As a born and raised Texan, I believe in the Second Amendment, but I also believe we can uphold the Constitution while keeping women safe. No domestic abuser should have a gun, as the Supreme Court stated clearly in upholding the current law in a 6-2 decision in 2016.

This is not an academic argument. Research shows that the presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed.

In holding up the reauthorization of VAWA, the GOP-controlled Senate is also delaying a critical piece of legislation that has fundamentally changed our view of domestic violence. VAWA has helped bring domestic violence out the shadows. The law created a national domestic violence hotline and invested in training and programs to prevent domestic abuse, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking. Since it went into effect, we have seen significant reductions in domestic violence and a far more aggressive stance from law enforcement intent on stopping it.

How has Congress become so captured by the gun lobby that we are debating the merits of keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers? Why do we continue to elect politicians who are more concerned about their re-election than doing what is so obviously right?

The Senate should move quickly to reauthorize VAWA and close this dangerous loophole once and for all.

Young is a member of the Round Rock City Council and a Democratic candidate for the 31st District congressional seat held by Rep. John Carter, a Republican.

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