Congressional hearing is the first on gun violence since post-Newtown gun control measures failed to pass

Victims of domestic abuse and gun violence have gathered in Washington DC to share their stories as the Senate holds a first-of-its-kind hearing on how to keep guns out of the hands of abusive partners.

Former champion boxer Christy Martin will be among the victims who are set to testify during the Senate judiciary hearing on Wednesday in support of a bill that would block abusive partners and convicted stalkers from legally buying or carrying firearms.



In Martin’s prime, the professionally trained fighter was a formidable opponent in the ring. But brute strength is no match for a man with a gun, she said. On 23 November 2010, Martin’s then-husband and manager attacked her after she talked to him about ending their relationship. He stabbed her repeatedly and then shot her in the chest with her own gun.

“If it could happen to me, it could happen to anybody because I was in good shape and I was pretty strong,” she said, adding that women in abusive relationships are especially vulnerable in the period after they leave their partner.

Martin, a West Virginia native nicknamed “the coal miner’s daughter”, said she was raised in a hunting family and always had guns in the home. While she doesn’t support broad gun control measures, she said it’s a no-brainer that batterers should not be allowed to possess guns.

She said being shot gave her “a little more respect” for guns’ lethal capacity.

Current federal law bans people convicted of abusing their spouse, including those placed under a restraining order for such a crime, from carrying a gun. It generally doesn’t extend to abuse by a dating partner, or someone who is not a spouse.

The bill being discussed Wednesday, introduced by US senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, would expand the definition of “intimate partner” to mean someone who has been in a romantic or intimate relationship with the abuser.

The bill would also prohibit convicted stalkers from buying guns. While US law does ban stalkers who are convicted of felony offenses from possessing guns, it does not prevent those convicted of misdemeanor stalking offenses.

New Hampshire father John Cantin said he plans to speak to this during the hearing.

His daughter Missy was shot and killed by her estranged husband who was under a restraining order for previously strangling her, Cantin said, his voice wavering. Cantin was there when it happened, and was shot as he tried to carry his daughter’s limp body out of the house.

“It’s too bad we have to have all of these laws to try to help protect people – there’s no guarantee – but it does work,” he said. “If we can prolong a person getting a gun they might change their mind. Sometimes people do things in the heat of the moment.”

Although he has become an advocate against domestic and gun violence in the years since his daughter’s death, telling this story has not gotten any easier. But he believes the law could save lives, and so on Wednesday he’ll tell his story again.

A women’s issue

This will be the first congressional hearing on gun violence since senators failed to pass a bill that would have required universal background checks in the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

The measure is strongly supported by Michael Bloomberg-funded Everytown for Gun Safety, which joins the victims and advocates in pushing Congress to pass Klobuchar’s bill.

Everytown and Moms Demand Action have helped push through similar laws in six states across the country, including Wisconsin and Louisiana. Kentucky took a different approach. A new state law fast-tracks the process for domestic abuse victims to get a firearm, allowing people with an emergency protective order or domestic violence order to get a concealed carry permit in a day.

Former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, a survivor of a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, has been vocal on the issue of guns and domestic abuse, and called on the committee’s chairman, Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, to give the bill a hearing.

Giffords said during a June speech in DC: “Dangerous people with guns are a threat to women. Criminals with guns. Stalkers with guns. Abusers with guns. That makes gun violence a women’s issue.”

And specifically, it’s a US women’s issue. A 2003 study in the Journal of Trauma – which is often cited by supporters of the bill – found that American women are 11 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than women in other high-income countries.

While the bill has its detractors – the National Rifle Association is reported to be in opposition – it seems to have found broad, bipartisan public support. A poll by the Huffington Post and YouGov found that two-thirds of American voters support both provisions in the bill.

The NRA did not return repeated requests for comment.