Shortly after the new Congress was sworn in following the 2018 midterms, former Vice President Joe Biden called on them to re-authorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
In a series of tweets, Biden hailed VAWA, the bill he authored as a representative from Delaware in the US Senate in 1994, calling it a “lifeline” to women, while he lamented how Congress had turned it into a “political football.”
When I wrote the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, I believed it would be a lifeline. But this Congress has turned it into a political football. It’s time to pass a strong reauthorization to the Violence Against Women Act. No more stalling. Lives are on the line.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 15, 2019
While Biden’s call for a “strong re-authorization” of VAWA is debatable, what isn’t debatable is how the law has been used to expand government’s reach into other areas of our lives. Biden admitted as much in another tweet where he praised VAWA’s “power” to get stronger “with each authorization” and called on Congress to “expand the reach of VAWA.”
VAWA’s power is that it gets stronger with each reauthorization. This year can be no different. Like was done in 2000 and 2005 and 2013, we must expand the reach of VAWA to respond to the needs of survivors at risk every day.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 15, 2019
One of the areas where VAWA has expanded its reach is gun control.
Inspired by the red flag hysteria sweeping both parties in Washington, the re-authorization of VAWA recently passed in the House (HR 1585) — with the help of 33 Republicans — is loaded with anti-Second Amendment provisions, including:
- Allows for ex parte orders (no due process) from an intimate partner, much like the red flag bills we’ve seen for those who have been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of stalking.
- Redefines the term “intimate partner” to include someone a person may have dated, as well as spouses and family.
- It would become the second misdemeanor level offense for which the federal government will bar someone from owning a firearm. In many cases, this will disarm women who seek to own a firearm for their own defense.
- Requires the federal government to notify local law enforcement when someone tries to purchase a firearm who’s allegedly prohibited under the NICS-Brady Registration scheme. This could include veterans or other law-abiding Americans who may have been wrongly added to the “prohibited” list without due process.
Under the bill, anyone you’ve ever dated is allowed to convene a “secret court” to strip you of your Second, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights without due process. And it pushes for the imprisonment of veterans, traffic ticket scofflaws, and others who attempt to purchase a gun without knowing the government had already suspended their Second Amendment rights without due process.
Currently, HR 1585 is in the Senate where passage is allegedly uncertain, but with an election on the horizon, I’m not buying it.
With no conservative movement to stop them, Republicans are already working on ways to federalize red flag laws. Additionally, Trump and the GOP have been in bed with Democrats concerning gun control ever since the 2016 election season, and they began openly promoting Pelosi’s anti-gun agenda immediately after the 2018 midterms.
During the two-year Republican Utopia form 2016–2018, the GOP showed how underhanded they could be about passing anti-gun laws when Sen. John Cornyn buried the Fix NICS Act in an omnibus spending bill in March 2018. This so-called improvement to NICS gave government the power to deny gun rights for something as minor as unpaid traffic tickets and laid the groundwork for establishing an FBI database of all gun owners.
Another layer to the uncertain outcome of HR 1585 involves Sen. Joni Ernst who just happens to be up for re-election in 2020. Once heralded as a conservative, she has proven to be another dweller of the Republican swamp as we recently witnessed when she joined Mike Lee to advance Ivanka’s paid family leave.
Ernst supports re-authorizing and expanding VAWA ala Joe Biden, but allegedly is having trouble with the anti-gun provisions in the current bill. Does this mean she’s leaning toward voting against it? Nope. Instead, she’s working on a Dianne Feinstein-friendly alternative where she can claim to protect gun rights while doing the opposite.
Ernst will also use her recent revelation of being a sexual-assault victim to justify her cave to the Far-Left, but as we learn from Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) — herself a survivor of domestic violence — the current version of HR 1585 is no substitute for the Bill of Rights.
The future of the Violence Against Women Act is unknown, but with no conservative movement in Congress, the 2020 election just around the corner and the documented Republican capitulation to the Far-Left agenda, I think it’s looking pretty good for Uncle Joe’s landmark achievement to pass and for our Second Amendment rights to be destroyed.
*NOTE: Gun Owners of America has an easy way to let your Senators know you want them to oppose HR 1585. Go here to take action.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative. His politically incorrect and always “right” columns are also featured on NOQReport.com.
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