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Senator
Edna Brown to Introduce Domestic Violence Survivor
Protection Act
Special To The Truth
Last week, State Senator Edna Brown (D-Toledo) announced
that she will soon introduce legislation which will help
prevent more gun violence by keeping firearms away from
domestic abusers.
“Support for the 2nd Amendment should go
hand-in-hand with keeping guns out of the hands of people we
know are dangerous,” said Senator Brown. “Guns in a domestic
violence situation do not make anyone safer. The presence of
a firearm at such a time makes it five times more likely
that a woman will be killed. My legislation will help keep
domestic violence survivors safe from gun violence.”
Every year in the United States, women suffer from 5.3
million incidents of domestic violence. But 26 states,
including Indiana and Pennsylvania, already have laws that
prohibit people who have either been convicted of domestic
violence or are subject to a domestic-violence restraining
order from owning firearms. Ohio does not. The laws passed
by those 26 states have reduced gun violence against women,
because we know that the presence of a gun in a situation of
intimate-partner violence makes it five times more likely
that a woman will be killed.
Recently, Ohio experienced another incident of this type of
violence. James Ramey is charged with killing his intimate
partner Amanda Mangas with a gun on March 14. He had
previously been convicted of domestic violence against
her—for holding a knife to her throat when she said she
might leave him.
“Along with Constitutional rights comes great individual
responsibility,” Brown added. “If a person has been
convicted of violent domestic abuse or is under a protection
order for the safety of another human being then that person
has forfeited his or her right to own a gun.”
Overall one in two American women who are killed with guns
is killed by a romantic partner or family member. Moreover,
roughly 4.5 million women alive today have been threatened
with a gun by an intimate partner. According to Gallup, over
60 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with United States
gun laws. And a second recent poll from Gallup shows that a
majority of Americans agree that laws limiting gun access
should be stronger.
“If we value the lives of our mothers, wives, and daughters,
we have a responsibility to act,” emphasized Brown.
“Millions of Americans have spoken and deserve to be heard:
Ohio needs common-sense gun laws, and this means keeping
firearms away from violent domestic abusers. I wish we could
have acted sooner to help protect Amanda Mangas.”
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