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Senator Brown Testifies on Domestic Violence Survivors
Protection Act
Senate Bill 150 bans convicted domestic violence offenders
from owning firearms
Last week, Senator Edna Brown (D-Toledo) testified on Senate
Bill 150 before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Titled the
“Domestic Violence Survivors Protection Act,” the bill
prohibits individuals who have been convicted of domestic
violence, or assault of a family member, or who are subject
to a domestic-violence restraining order from owning
firearms. Twenty-six states have already enacted similar
legislation.
“Roughly 4.5 million American women have been threatened
with a gun by an intimate partner,” said Brown. “We must ask
ourselves: how much further does a person really have to go
to pull the trigger if they’ve already drawn a weapon on
someone?”
Existing federal legislation, known as the Domestic Violence
Offender Gun Ban, prohibits individuals convicted of
domestic violence from possessing firearms; however, it is
difficult to enforce at the state level because federal law
does not outline a procedure for surrendering firearms.
“Senate Bill 150 provides a clear-cut process for turning in
weapons and encourages compliance with existing federal
legislation,” said Brown. “Because states must develop their
own procedures for surrendering firearms, convicted domestic
abusers have been able to get away with keeping their guns,
though unlawful.”
October marks National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in
Ohio. Every year, 5.3 million women in the United States
suffer from incidents of domestic violence. Overall, one in
two American women killed with guns are killed by a romantic
partner or family member.
Brown introduced Senate Bill 150 in honor of Amanda Mangas,
the northwest Ohio native who was shot and killed by her
boyfriend, James Ramey, this past March.
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