“Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behavior in which someone uses physical, sexual, psychological or other types of harm against a current or former partner, an immediate family member or another relative. It can also include stalking, threats or other behaviors meant to manipulate or control someone else.” “An incident of domestic violence occurs every fifteen seconds, [which is] more frequent than any other crime in the country.” Society has long recognized the existence of domestic violence, but domestic violence “has been spotlighted recently by cases involving NFL players Ray Rice and Greg Hardy.” “Informed by the feminist political movement’s call for awareness of spousal abuse and the [completion of the] first research experiments …show more content…
Most critics see the law simply as an amendment that added domestic violence misdemeanors to the list of conditions to prevent individuals from exercising their constitutional rights. “[C]ritics exclaim that the Act is wrought with obstacles. Besides the problems with retroactivity and the application to officers of the law and military, this Amendment has some unavoidable loopholes and unintended consequences which … prevent the Act from fully being …show more content…
THE RETROACTIVE ISSUE “The retroactivity of the Act [should] be challenged constitutionally.” “The Lautenberg Act is … retroactive, meaning that … individuals … who had domestic violence convictions ten, fifteen, even twenty years ago, lose the right to own or possess a firearm.” However, under the United States Constitution, which states, “ No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed,” retroactive penalties are deemed illegal, and therefore the Act is unconstitutional. The retroactive issue of the Act was thought to only be an issue when the Act was originally enacted. However, because there has never been a “state or national database of misdemeanor offenses” available, it has proved difficult to identify previously convicted individuals. “Unfortunately, a misdemeanor committed fifty years ago would still subject an individual to a lifetime gun ban, even if he or she has lived a happily married life with the ‘victim’ during the intervening period.” Therefore, the ex post facto law would be prohibited by the Constitution because it punishes an individual convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence ten, fifteen, or even twenty years after the crime has been committed, even if the conviction was only recently discovered due to updated databases or the technology to perform adequate background checks becoming
Prior to this case there were two forms of gun control acts the first was that of 1968 which forbids gun sells to sell guns to people that have a felony charge that are mentally unstable and other things this was amended with the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act which included the need to have a background check. While working to make a system that could make the check fast it had to be done by state law enforcement. People however started to claim that this act was unconstitutional and it violated their rights given to them under the Constitution. The Petitioners filed separate actions challenging the constitutionality of the Brady Act’s interim provisions and in each case the District
The Constitution addresses our basic civil, individual, God-given rights and liberties and our government both local and central, should and must protect those rights. However, our brilliant Founding Fathers created these laws in the early development of our Country realizing our laws needed to evolve as our Country evolved. They went as far as calling our Constitution a “living and breathing document” meaning the laws must change with the current times and state of our nation. So as guns and firearms evolved to become more dangerous and accurate, I believe even our most basic, fundamental laws should have followed suite and evolved. Not only do I reason that this law is grossly misinterpreted, but I also believe this law should have been amended or at least evolved for more clear language to account for the evolution of the
Domestic violence, alternatively referred to as Intimate Partner Violence, is defined by the Department of Justice as “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner.” While domestic violence is commonly thought of as only physical or sexual abuse, domestic violence can also be emotional, economic, or psychological. Domestic violence has remained constant in society throughout history, even though over time society’s response to the issue has changed. While domestic violence affects everyone regardless of race, gender, age, etc. it is estimated that approximately 90% of all victims are women. For the purpose of this paper, I will be focusing on
December 15, 1791, the day America’s Bill of Rights was ratified, was the day the initial infrastructure for our country’s basic rights were established. Since then, firearms have been a highly deliberated topic. Even today, the debate over whether we, as a country, should institute stricter gun laws continues to be an ongoing conversation throughout social media, the press, and within our governing bodies. But, since the approval of the Bill of Rights, gun laws have continued to be restricted in order to protect the lives of citizens who reside in America. The initial catalyst for more rigid gun laws was the horrific assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan, which also brought injury upon James Brady who, due to this incident, later became an advocate for gun laws. Ronald Reagan’s potential rendezvous with bloodshed brought about the initiation of Brady’s law as a safeguard to prevent another incident of this kind from besieging our country.
Committed with a fire arm dropped in 1994 - - the same year that the Brady Law went into effect. This decline ended the steady increase in gun violence from 1985 to 1993. The
The next issue called into question is the fact that this law requires all who own them to register their “assault weapons”. This can be an issue of privacy and can also predispose police officers into thinking that these citizens may be criminals just because they own assault weapons.
After the incident, James Brady devoted his life to the fight for gun control. (Johnson, 2014) In 1993 the Brady Handgun Violence and Prevention Act bill passed. The law requires background checks on firearms purchases from federally licensed dealers in the United States, and imposed a five- day waiting on purchases. (Johnson, 2014) Some have argued that the Brady law has no impact of the gun control issues and the Brady Bill seems to have been a failure. In 2012 after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre government officials and Congress revisit the impact of gun control that Brady Law has. (Johnson, 2014) Yet, other believe that Brady Law had a lasting impact on gun
Next, we have a seven-year gap of gun laws not being changed, but in 1933 The Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act was passed. This “mandates background checks of gun buyers in order to prevent sales to people prohibited under the 1968 legislation... Sales by unlicensed private sellers who are not engaged in gun
This began to change in the 1980s, as women’s groups were organized locally and internationally to demand attention to the physical, psychological, and economic abuse of women (p.369-370). Domestic violence is a serious social issue that happens to many women in our world today. This type of abuse is not declining but continually rising on a daily basis. There have been issues in the past with the way these cases were being handled. Today, there has been some improvement concerning the laws that have been enforced in order to protect women from this type of abuse. There has been extensive research done on this issue in the past concerning domestic violence. Over the last ten years there have been a number of surveys on domestic violence that have been published from around the world.
The fact that the domestic abuse aggravated assault has been increased to a crime of violence is imperative; I feel that that is common sense. Domestic abuse has life-long effects on the family—I speak from personal family experience. While I never had to live with it, my brothers had to live with alcoholism and abuse, and I can see the effects still today. Domestic abuse is a serious crime, and needs to be treated as such. The counseling and domestic violence intervention program is essential to helping improve the root of the problem, instead of just putting a band aid on the problem. I think that this legislation has some great aspects, as well as a component that makes me
Clinton’s assault rifle ban in the nineties. Some may argue that this violates Second Amendment rights, since it eliminates some choice in magazines for firearms. However, no federal judge has ruled that the New York ban is unconstitutional, so a national version of the NY SAFE act should be constitutional as well.
The speecific question in this case is to determine whether it 's a breech to the constittution for individual to have a stun guns and other modern guns that are not expressively made in the Congress ammendement of 1789 regarding the kind of weapons indivuals are allowed to own for personal protection
The United States of America is a nation of massacres by military-type assault weapons. Aware of the deadliness of these weapons and due to public safety concerns clearly outweighing the benefits of personal ownership of military-type assault weapons, the United States passed the 1994 Federal Ban on military-type assault weapons. This ban was notably effective during the 10 years it was in effect. However, the Ban automatically expired in 2004. Since that time, the number of U. S. mass murders has markedly increased. Attempts to reinstate the Ban, most recently the stricter 2013 Ban, have all failed. Nevertheless, the less restrictive 1994 Ban did pass the Senate and House of Representatives at one point and was successful. Therefore, the 1994 Federal Ban on military-type assault weapons should be reinstated.
Domestic violence became a realization and a serious concern in the mid 1970’s for many Americans. “This realization is due to the women advocating on behalf of the battered women movement”
It has brought trepidation into people of walking down a street and getting shot at. The question is? Did the state lawmakers did not cogitate on the consequences of this bill before they determined it to be a safety net, or was it merely an act of provocation of asking for unwarranted trouble by the open carry law? This decision is also racially biased, and only continues to foment the unabating praetorian behaviour of police toward minorities along with women. By the harassment of unjustified stops, the iniquitous line of illicit questions is directed toward minorities, and women alike. However without the attitude that predisposes minorities, and women alike to react irrationally when confronted by the law just because they are carrying a weapon.