IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 555 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the relation-
ships between firearm violence, misogyny, and violence against women 
and reaffirming the importance of preventing individuals with a history 
of violence against women from accessing a firearm. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 
Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. MOORE, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. 
ESCOBAR, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. MENG, Ms. HAALAND, Mrs. TORRES of 
California, Mr. FOSTER, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. NORTON, 
Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. DEAN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 
TONKO, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BEYER, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. CASTOR of 
Florida, Ms. HILL of California, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. STEVENS, 
Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. GREEN of 
Texas, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. 
PORTER, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. BROWN of Mary-
land, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. LEWIS, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. 
CICILLINE, and Ms. WEXTON) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the 
Committees on Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Ways and 
Means, Education and Labor, Natural Resources, and Veterans’ Affairs, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard-
ing the relationships between firearm violence, misogyny, 
and violence against women and reaffirming the impor-
tance of preventing individuals with a history of violence 
against women from accessing a firearm. 
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•HRES 555 IH 
Whereas nearly one in four women have experienced some 
form of intimate partner violence, including sexual vio-
lence, physical violence, or stalking, and one in three 
women have experienced sexual violence during their life-
time, according to the National Intimate Partner and 
Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) for 2015; 
Whereas the majority of intimate partner homicides follow 
previous incidents of physical violence against the victim; 
Whereas an estimated three-quarters of all intimate partner 
homicide victims had been stalked by their partners prior 
to the homicide, according to a 1999 study published in 
Homicide Studies; 
Whereas approximately 4,500,000 women alive today in the 
United States have been threatened by an intimate part-
ner with a firearm and almost 1,000,000 women report 
being shot or shot at by an intimate partner, according 
to a 2016 study published in Trauma, Violence, and 
Abuse; 
Whereas nearly half of all female homicide victims between 
2003 and 2014 were killed by intimate partners, accord-
ing to a 2017 study published in the Journal of the 
American Medical Association; 
Whereas a study of family and intimate assaults in Atlanta, 
Georgia, published in the Journal of the American Med-
ical Association in 1992 found that an incident of family 
or intimate violence is 12 times more likely to result in 
a fatality if it involves a firearm; 
Whereas an abuser’s access to a firearm increases the likeli-
hood that a woman will be killed by 400 percent, accord-
ing a 2003 study published in the American Journal of 
Public Health; 
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Whereas the presence of a firearm in the home increases the 
risk of female homicide by 300 percent and the risk of 
female suicide by 500 percent, according to a 1997 study 
published in the Archives of Internal Medicine; 
Whereas data on homicide trends in the United States from 
1990 to 2005 reveal that firearms were used in more 
than two-thirds of homicides of a current or former 
spouse; 
Whereas an estimated three-quarters of intimate partner 
homicides in which there were multiple victims involve a 
firearm; 
Whereas a 2019 comparison of violent death rates among 
high-income countries indicates that women in the United 
States are 21 times more likely to be killed with a fire-
arm than women in other high-income countries; 
Whereas 91.6 percent of all women killed by firearms in high- 
income countries in 2015 were killed in the United 
States; 
Whereas an analysis of active shooter incidents between 2000 
and 2018 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation found 
that 241 out of 250 incidents involved a male shooter; 
Whereas an analysis of mass shootings by Everytown for Gun 
Safety indicates that in 54 percent of mass shootings in 
the United States between 2009 and 2017 in which four 
or more people were killed, the shooter killed a former or 
current intimate partner or family member; 
Whereas, on August 4, 2019, nine people, including the gun-
man’s sister, were killed and 27 people were wounded 
when a shooter with a history of aggression against 
women, including an incident in which he was suspended 
from high school for possessing a list of female class-
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mates he targeted for sexual violence, opened fire in Day-
ton, Ohio; 
Whereas, on November 5, 2017, 25 people were killed, includ-
ing a pregnant woman, and 20 people were wounded in 
Sutherland Springs, Texas, by a shooter with an estab-
lished history of domestic violence, including a prior con-
viction for domestic violence against his wife and stepson 
and a separate investigation into a rape complaint; 
Whereas, on December 6, 2016, a mother and her three chil-
dren were shot and killed by a former dating partner who 
had been convicted of stalking a former girlfriend and ar-
rested for battery against a household member, but con-
tinued to have access to firearms because of the ‘‘boy-
friend loophole’’ wherein he was not married to the 
women he abused; 
Whereas, on June 12, 2016, 49 people were killed and 53 
people were wounded when a shooter who was physically 
abusive toward his wife, including by allegedly beating 
her while she was pregnant, opened fire in the Pulse 
nightclub in Orlando, Florida; 
Whereas, on February 25, 2016, a gunman shot and killed 
three people and injured 14 people in Newton and 
Hesston, Kansas, after being served with a temporary 
protective order related to an abusive relationship; 
Whereas, on May 23, 2014, six people were killed and 14 
people were wounded by being stabbed, shot, or struck by 
the vehicle of a self-identified member of the involuntary 
celibate, or incel, group of men who blame women for 
their sexual frustrations and advocate for violence against 
them, with the shooter uploading a video and publishing 
a manifesto detailing his hatred toward women in Isla 
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Vista, California, near the University of California, Santa 
Barbara; 
Whereas, on December 14, 2012, 26 students and teachers 
were killed in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elemen-
tary School after a shooter who previously threatened the 
life of his mother shot and killed her at home; 
Whereas 11 percent of background check denials are attrib-
uted to a misdemeanor of domestic violence or a protec-
tive or restraining order according to the Bureau of Jus-
tice Statistics’ most recent report on Background Checks 
for Firearm Transfers; 
Whereas the so-called ‘‘Charleston Loophole’’, which allows a 
licensed firearms dealer to sell a firearm to a person after 
three business days even if the background check is not 
complete, has allowed nearly 2,000 domestic abusers to 
acquire firearms over the past two years; 
Whereas, on February 27, 2019, the House of Representa-
tives passed H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks 
Act of 2019, to require a background check for firearm 
transfers between unlicensed parties, with limited excep-
tions; 
Whereas, on February 28, 2019, the House of Representa-
tives passed H.R. 1112, the Enhanced Background 
Checks Act of 2019, to lengthen the period of time that 
must pass before a firearm transfer can occur without a 
completed background check; 
Whereas a 2017 analysis of State firearm restrictions for per-
petrators of domestic violence found that firearm prohibi-
tion laws that apply to dating partners are associated 
with a 16-percent reduction in intimate partner homicide; 
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Whereas, on April 4, 2019, the House of Representatives 
passed H.R. 1585, the Violence Against Women Reau-
thorization Act of 2019, to expand existing prohibitions 
on firearm access for domestic abusers to those convicted 
of dating violence or misdemeanor stalking, and those 
subject to ex parte protective orders; and 
Whereas the Senate has not held a vote on H.R. 8, H.R. 
1112, or H.R. 1585: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) affirms that reducing access to a firearm 
for individuals with a history of violence against 
women, including stalking and threats of violence, is 
critical to reducing the fatality of intimate partner 
violence in the United States; 
(2) acknowledges that current law falls short in 
protecting women who are victims of intimate part-
ner violence from unnecessary risk of firearm vio-
lence because an abuser can exploit legal loopholes 
to access a firearm; 
(3) recognizes that perpetrators of firearm vio-
lence often have a history of violence against women 
and that a successful firearm violence prevention 
strategy must meaningfully address this connection; 
(4) acknowledges the need for legislation to bet-
ter prevent individuals with a history of violence 
against women from purchasing or possessing a fire-
arm; 
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(5) supports further research into the relation-
ships among misogyny, violence against women, and 
firearm violence; and 
(6) calls on the Senate to immediately consider 
H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 
2019, H.R. 1112, the Enhanced Background Checks 
Act of 2019, and H.R. 1585, the Violence Against 
Women Reauthorization Act of 2019. 
Æ 
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