Committee
hears Tanzi bill that would take guns away from domestic abusers, those with
restraining orders
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| Rep. Doreen Costa (R-Nutnut Kingston) came to Thursday's Rally Against Gun Violence on the State House steps. She stayed on the fringes to take photos of participants and to deliver her one-finger salute. Real class act, that Costa! (Photo by Steve Ahlquist) |
“When
a victim makes the determination to leave an abuser, the gravity of the
situation is clear,” said
Representative Tanzi, who used to work as an advocate for victims of domestic
violence.
“An abuser’s power comes from control, and the thought of losing that control is too often unbearable; and statistically speaking, a time of departure is the time for escalating harm to occur."This bill offers one more layer of protection to give these families, these victims of domestic violence. Nothing is a guarantee of safety. What this bill would do is offer them a fighting chance.”
The
bill (2015-H 5655) would also mandate that persons
subject to protective orders due to domestic abuse cases would be compelled to
turn in their firearms.“Women are at an increased risk of harm shortly after separation from an abusive partner, and the period following the issuance of a domestic violence restraining order is often the most dangerous period for victims,”
Representative
Tanzi told the House Judiciary Committee. “In a study of 230 women killed by
their intimate partners, 20 percent of the women who had an active restraining
order were killed within two days of receiving it. And 36.4 percent were killed
within 30 days of the order being served.”
The
bill amends an existing law by directing courts to order domestic abusers
subject to protective orders to turn in firearms. It also adds language that
would prevent the restrained person from purchasing, receiving, or attempting
to purchase or receive a firearm while the protective order is in effect.
Representative
Tanzi’s proposal to prohibit gun possession for those convicted of domestic
violence crimes or those subject to domestic violence restraining orders has
support from 80 percent of Rhode Islanders, according to polling released by Everytown for Gun Safety this
week.
In
addition to the firearm prohibition in protective orders, the bill would
prohibit convicted domestic abusers from having guns. The bill also tightens up
the language of the law, requiring specifically that domestic abusers turn guns
in to the Rhode Island State Police, local police departments or a licensed gun
dealer.
“This
is simply a bill that would protect Rhode Island domestic violence victims from
the threat of armed abusers,”
Representative Tanzi testified.
“It
doesn’t change the process for prosecution; it does not deviate from our
current established due process requirements. It does bring us in line with
current federal statute; it does offer many of the same protections our
neighboring states already have; it does give our state prosecutors the ability
to offer the same robust protections to victims of domestic violence that our
federal prosecutors can.”
The
committee also heard statistics from the Rhode Island Coalition Against
Domestic Violence that since 1980, every child murdered in a domestic violence
homicide incident in Rhode Island, was killed by a firearm.
“Sadly,
this is not very surprising, considering that the risk of homicide for a woman
in a domestic violence situation increases five-fold when a gun is present,”
said Representative Tanzi.
A
Senate version of the bill (2015-S 0503), which has been introduced by Sen.
Cynthia A. Coyne (D-Dist. 32, Barrington, Bristol, East Providence), has been
referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.