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The Senate gun bill would close the 'boyfriend loophole.' Here's what that means
Congress soon may pass its most significant gun legislation in three decades. Senators are working to fast-track a bipartisan gun safety bill that negotiators recently finalized2, spurred by mass shootings last month in Buffalo3, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas.
The Senate, which advanced the bill in a 64-34 vote on Tuesday, will hold a procedural vote on Thursday to end debate and prevent a filibuster4 from blocking the bill.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is expected to clear that vote and head for final passage in the Senate by the weekend, just ahead of lawmakers' July recess5. It would then go to the House for expected passage, at which point President Biden — who has urged Congress to move without delay — has said he would sign it.
The bill's measures are narrowly focused, with lawmakers aiming to craft legislation that would earn a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the evenly-divided Senate. That means it falls short of many of the changes that Democrats6 long have been pushed for, including universal background checks and a ban on military-style semiautomatic rifles.
Still, Democrats and gun safety advocates are hailing the legislation as an important and incremental7 step in the right direction. Among other provisions, it would expand background checks for prospective8 gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21, incentivize states to create red-flag laws, and give states more funding for school safety and mental health resources.
It also would close the so-called "boyfriend loophole" in a law that prevents people convicted of domestic abuse from owning a gun. That law currently only applies to people who are married to, living with or have a child with the victim.
April Zeoli, a professor of criminal justice and public health at Michigan State University, says those limited categories don't reflect the fact that people spend a lot more time dating now than they did in the past, with women marrying on average in their late 20s and men in their early 30s.
"Because we spend all this time dating, it doesn't mean that violence doesn't happen," Zeoli told Morning Edition's A Martínez. "It still happens, but the dating partners right now aren't covered by the federal restriction9."
More than a thousand women are killed by intimate partners every year in the United States, based on FBI and CDC data, and about half of the intimate partner homicides in the U.S. are perpetrated by an unmarried partner, a 2018 study found.
The bill would close the loophole, but add a caveat10
Democrats long have tried to broaden the definition of who qualifies for the ban. Their most recent attempt, an effort to add it to the reauthorization of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act that passed in March, was unsuccessful.
While that effort was on going, some states addressed the boyfriend loophole within their jurisdictions11.
Thirty-one states have policies prohibiting convicted domestic abusers from having guns, according to a tracker from Everytown for Gun Safety. Of those, 19 go beyond the federal prohibition12 to cover abusive dating partners.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is poised13 to finally make that change on the federal level. It adds and defines the term dating relationship as "a relationship between individuals who have or have recently had a continuing serious relationship of a romantic or intimate nature," with considerations for the length and nature of the relationship as well as the frequency and type of interactions between the individuals involved.
The bill includes a related provision, allowing people who were convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence to have their gun rights restored if their record stays clean for five years. There are some exceptions for victims' spouses14, parents, guardians15 or cohabitants.
Zeoli says she'd like to know more about the reasoning behind that provision, as it doesn't appear to be informed by any research.
"If we're talking about dating partners versus16 spouses, both of them can do the same types of violence, both of them can be the same level of dangerous, get the same conviction and get the same firearm restriction," she said. "But the spouses will have this lifetime firearm restriction, and the dating partners will have this five-year restriction, and I don't know the logic17 behind that disparity."
Baseless fears of deception18 and retaliation19
Why hasn't the federal law evolved with the times or research data? Zeoli offers one explanation:
"I think that there has always been a fear that women will make things up, that women will try to take revenge on their dating partners through lying about abuse and trying to get these firearm restrictions20 on them," she says. "And that fear is unfounded. In fact ... a large proportion of people who experience abuse never report it to the courts or law enforcement."
As a researcher, she says it's been difficult to watch as measures that data suggest could save lives — such as closing the boyfriend loophole — haven't been implemented21. Zeoli says the bipartisan bill, even with its limited provisions, is a step in the right direction.
"I am encouraged by the fact that we are seeing movement at the federal level on gun safety legislation, when we haven't seen it for literally22 decades," Zeoli says.
The audio for this interview was produced by Jeevika Verma and Ben Abrams, and edited by Raquel Maria Dillon.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, use a safe computer and contact help. That can include a local shelter, or call 911 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
1 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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2 finalized | |
vt.完成(finalize的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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3 buffalo | |
n.(北美)野牛;(亚洲)水牛 | |
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4 filibuster | |
n.妨碍议事,阻挠;v.阻挠 | |
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5 recess | |
n.短期休息,壁凹(墙上装架子,柜子等凹处) | |
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6 democrats | |
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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7 incremental | |
adj.增加的 | |
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8 prospective | |
adj.预期的,未来的,前瞻性的 | |
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9 restriction | |
n.限制,约束 | |
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10 caveat | |
n.警告; 防止误解的说明 | |
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11 jurisdictions | |
司法权( jurisdiction的名词复数 ); 裁判权; 管辖区域; 管辖范围 | |
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12 prohibition | |
n.禁止;禁令,禁律 | |
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13 poised | |
a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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14 spouses | |
n.配偶,夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 ) | |
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15 guardians | |
监护人( guardian的名词复数 ); 保护者,维护者 | |
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16 versus | |
prep.以…为对手,对;与…相比之下 | |
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17 logic | |
n.逻辑(学);逻辑性 | |
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18 deception | |
n.欺骗,欺诈;骗局,诡计 | |
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19 retaliation | |
n.报复,反击 | |
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20 restrictions | |
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则) | |
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21 implemented | |
v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 );执行;贯彻;使生效 | |
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22 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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