US Rep. Gwen Moore on Violence Against Women and Firearms

Frederica Freyberg:

This week, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced he is going after a loophole in state law that allows people convicted of disorderly conduct involving domestic violence to possess a firearm.

Josh Kaul:

The data is clear that when domestic violence and access to firearms are linked, the dangerousness of the situation increases dramatically. In some instances, access to a firearm can make a difference between whether a domestic violence case results in somebody’s death or not.

Frederica Freyberg:

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is now considering the case of a Texas man who argued his Second Amendment rights were violated because a 1994 federal law prohibited him from having a gun as the subject of a domestic violence restraining order. As the court was poised to hear the case, Wisconsin U.S. Representative Gwen Moore introduced a resolution in Congress calling attention to the, “relationships between firearm violence, misogyny and violence against women” and re-affirming the importance of preventing people with a history of domestic violence against women from accessing guns. Representative Moore joins us from Washington. Congresswoman Moore, thanks very much for joining us.

Gwen Moore:

Oh. It is so wonderful always to be with you, Frederica.

Frederica Freyberg:

So your resolution says legislation is needed to prevent individuals with a history of violence against women from purchasing or possessing a firearm.

Gwen Moore:

Well, we are seeing right now in the Supreme Court a decision that was made at the lower court. So we’re not going to wait a year from now to see what the court does. We’re trying to be really preemptive now so that there won’t be any gap in support or services. I mean, for 20 years or more, it’s sort of been the law of the land that if people go out and get restraining orders, if there’s been a history of violence and domestic violence, that you really don’t have to wait until someone actually pulls the trigger, and we see that, you know, firearms is the, you know, 88%, almost 90% of the cause of death in the domestic violence situation, that those interventions can be made, because we absolutely don’t want there to be any lapse in the ability for the court to deny, you know, a gun to a known batterer, and so we think that this — this circuit court decision could create a lot of confusion and really put women’s lives at risk. So we don’t think there was any time to waste.

Frederica Freyberg:

So this is personal for you and you expressed that in introducing your resolution. What happened that drives you?

Gwen Moore:

Well, Frederica, you know, I’m 72 years old, so I’ve been around a long time. And, you know, when I was in my early 20s, long before there was the Violence Against Women Act, long before there were any hot lines to call or anything, a then boyfriend pulled a gun out to my head because, you know, I, you know, was too sassy or whatever, and threatened to shoot me and I, being very foolish, you know, told him, just go on and shoot it or eat it, you know, and so he just said I was crazy, which I probably was because he could have shot and killed me. But I guess I’m grateful that he didn’t, but, you know, we should not have to depend on luck, because there are too many women who are not lucky. There was a report done by End Abuse Wisconsin that I found very, very distressing, to be frank with you. We had seen a decline in domestic abuse, thanks to the work of a lot of agencies all around the country, but in the last — last years, there’s been a huge uptick and in 2021, 2022, we saw a huge uptick in domestic violence, and particularly with the use of guns in Wisconsin. We’ve seen — this has a disparate impact in minority communities but with regard to the split between urban and rural communities, it’s just about half-and-half. So it’s not just an urban problem; it’s a rural problem, and, of course, the victims disproportionately seem to be women. So, you know, we can’t pretend that it’s not a social problem that women, children, other family members, that are nearby aren’t affected by this scourge and there’s, like I said, there’s been a huge uptick in the last couple of years.

Frederica Freyberg:

Those are extremely alarming statistics, as you point out. Why is it so difficult, though, to kind of translate those statistics into meaningful protective policy?

Gwen Moore:

Well, Frederica, quite frankly, I think that people have elevated, you know, the quote/unquote Second Amendment, you know, above and beyond our value for life, by far. These homicides occur because there’s an available firearm.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is the connection between misogyny, violence against women, and firearm violence, even the increase in mass shootings?

Gwen Moore:

Let me take that last part first. It was stunning to me to learn that many of the mass shootings that we see are people who had prior behavior as domestic abusers. So, you know, surprise, surprise. Here’s a mass killer, but they had been people who had been engaged in domestic violence before the act of being a mass killer, so there’s very clearly a connection. And, of course, misogyny, one of the things that occurred during COVID, when we had all of these commercials saying “you’re safer at home,” is when we started seeing really a huge uptick in domestic violence, and I really had to come out and say, “My God, there are so many people who are not safer at home.” But I think what really contributes to the domestic violence is the presence of a gun.

Frederica Freyberg:

Congresswoman Gwen Moore, we leave it there. Thanks very much.

Gwen Moore:

Thank you. Be well.