The new gun control legislation sweeps across several areas.
After yet another year of ceaseless gun violence, it seems like the United States just might have reached a turning point with gun control legislation. Last month, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which is the largest piece of gun violence reduction legislation to become law in 30 years. But what does this piece of legislation actually include, anyway? And is it actually going to make a difference?
To get a better understanding of what, exactly, is included in this legislation, I spoke with my friend Shannon Watts. Shannon is the founder of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that protect people from gun violence. Moms Demand Action has established a chapter in every state of the country and is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country, with nearly 10 million supporters.
You can read a condensed version of my conversation with Shannon here, or watch the full interview in the video below.
Katie Couric: Shannon, can you tell us what this legislation does and doesn’t include?
Shannon Watts: First of all, let’s talk about funding for red flag laws. Nineteen states as well as Washington, D.C. currently have red flag laws. Essentially, what these laws do is give certain people, depending on the state, the ability to petition a judge with a temporary restraining order to remove the guns from someone who’s a danger to themselves or others. For example, a teacher or a therapist who thinks their client or student might do something violent.
For a long time, we’ve needed to incentivize and implement these laws. And this new federal legislation gives $750 million to do that.
Does it expand red flag laws or just give money to educate people about them?
It does both. I also think it will encourage more states to adopt them. Again, they’re constitutionally sound, they have bipartisan support. They’re not all in blue states. This is something I think we could really work and expand on in the next legislative session.
Does this legislation address anything else?
It also addresses what’s called the dating partner loophole, or “boyfriend loophole.” Before this legislation, the federal law said that you are only a prohibited gun purchaser if you’ve been convicted of domestic abuse and if you fall into one or many of these categories: You are a spouse, you cohabitate with someone, or if you’ve had children with your partner. If you’re convicted of domestic abuse and you’re dating someone but don’t live with them, aren’t married to them, and don’t have a child with them, this law does not apply to you. And this was bad because people are just as likely to be killed by a dating partner as they are by a spouse in this country. So that’s why we call this the dating partner loophole.
Now, this legislation expands the definition of who a domestic abuser is. I’ll give you an example. Bob and Sally have been dating seriously, but they’re not married, Bob is abusing Sally and he’s convicted of domestic violence, which is a misdemeanor. Now, thanks to this legislation, he is prohibited for at least five years from possessing guns.
What about background checks?
This legislation will make it more clear in terms of which sellers are required to run a background check. So for example, the dealers who sell guns for-profit online or at gun shows are now required to become licensed dealers. This means they have to conduct background checks, and they have to keep the appropriate records. They didn’t have to do that before.
Another really important thing this new legislation will do is help fund community violence intervention programs. These programs are so incredibly important, especially in a post-COVID world. Because these community violence intervention programs have relationships with the people who live in the area, and they can stop retaliatory gun violence before it begins.
So this legislation unlocked $250 million for this, which will really help the communities that are most impacted, and also beef up trauma-response services. It also allocates about $2 billion dollars in community mental health services. This is important because six in 10 gun deaths in this country are suicides.
Why didn’t this legislation reinstate an assault weapon ban?
This is a very complicated question. One issue is that it’s difficult to do a blanket ban. Another issue is that some states have had an appetite for a ban, but when they tried to do it, they failed. Yet another issue is that Republicans absolutely will not come to the table for it.
So if you support an assault weapons ban, then it is so important to vote for gun sense candidates. We have a website where you can see where your candidates stand on this issue.
The last point I want to make is that mass shootings are horrific, because there’s such a high body count. But the reality is that these mass shootings account for a fraction of gun violence deaths in this country. Most gun violence — the gun violence that kills over 110 Americans every day and wounds hundreds more — is carried out with handguns. And so we can’t lose focus. We have to look at this issue more holistically and be activists in a way that treats all gun violence.
