NUMBER TEN: The Lautenberg ban can permanently disarm women who try to defend themselves against an abusive spouse.(1)
NUMBER NINE: Women can now lose their Second Amendment rights for slapping a husband during an argument.(2)
NUMBER EIGHT: Women are often charged with domestic violence -- even if they are not at fault -- when the police arrive at a domestic disturbance, and the resulting conviction or plea-bargain now revokes their gun rights forever.(3)
NUMBER SEVEN: Women are losing their constitutional rights over extremely minor offenses -- including plea-bargaining to a $25 misdemeanor fine (even 20 years ago or more) for an offense they might not have committed (see number eight above).(4)
NUMBER SIX: Women can lose their gun rights for shoving their husband during an argument.(5)
NUMBER FIVE: Women can lose their right to keep and bear arms for simply spanking a child.(6)
NUMBER FOUR: Women can lose their ability to defend themselves as a result of bogus charges of domestic violence which are "routinely used as tactics in divorce proceedings."(7)
NUMBER THREE: The Lautenberg gun ban completely violates the Second Amendment which ensures that the people's right to keep and bear arms will not be infringed.
NUMBER TWO: Women's groups (like Concerned Women for America, Independent Women's Forum, and Safety for Women and Responsible Motherhood) have opposed the Lautenberg provision.
AND THE NUMBER ONE REASON WHY WOMEN THINK THE LAUTENBERG BAN SHOULD BE REPEALED: Because liberal Senator Frank Lautenberg sponsored it.
Cosponsor H.R. 1009. This is the only bill that will fully repeal the Lautenberg gun ban, unlike other so-called repeal bills. Please let Gun Owners of America know that we can count on you to take a stand for the Bill of Rights. Thank you.
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1. "Women are being charged with assault when it's
self-defense or fictitious," said Sue Osthoff, director of the
National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women. . . .
"I think it's being used as a very systematic weapon against
women. . . . When the web is thrown out, women come back in,
often inappropriately." Leef Smith, "Domestic Violence Arrests
Rise Among Women," The Washington Post, 18 November 1996.
2. "I've had a lot of women who call and say their husband
started the fight and then when the police get involved, their
husbands accuse them of mutual combat," Cathy Maxfield of
Virginians Against Domestic Violence said. "I had one woman who
called and said her husband hit her, and out of reflex, she him
back." Ibid.
3. "Jeanne MacLeod, director of the Maryland Network Against
Domestic Violence, attributes a good part of the increased
arrests [of women] to the tendency of police to arrest both
parties when they have doubts. 'I think there are many cases
when women are being victimized by the mandatory arrest
policies,' MacLeod said. 'You tell the police they have to
arrest someone, and sometimes they can't tell who did what to
whom, and they'll arrest both people to safeguard themselves.'"
Ibid.
4. "Many people who plea-bargained 20 years ago on such a
charge [of domestic violence] and paid a small court fine
(instead of spending $5,000 in legal fees to defend themselves)
will be surprised to discover that they have lost one of their
constitutional rights." James Bovard, "Disarming Those Who Need
Guns Most," The Wall Street Journal, 23 December 1996.
5. "'Many of the arrests [from domestic violence] are based on
such things as shoves' -- rather than knock-down punches or
chairs broken over people's heads." Ibid.
6. "The new law could provide vigilante prosecutors the power
to seize the guns of parents who are not following Dr. Spock's
child-rearing recommendations. . . . 'There is a move across the
country by child rights groups to outlaw corporal punishment. In
a few instances, families have been found guilty of abusing their
children as a result of spanking -- not that their children were
hurt or anything.'" Ibid.
7. "Bogus charges of domestic violence are routinely used as
tactics in divorce proceedings. . . . 'Many domestic violence
charges are false -- perhaps as many as one-third where child
custody or divorce issues are involved,' says Peter Proctor, a
forensic expert in Houston." Ibid.