Blumenthal Announces Bill to Close Dangerous Loophole to Protect Domestic Abuse Survivors

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced the introduction of the Lori Jackson Domestic Violence Survivor Protection Act during a virtual press call with U.S. Representative Jim Himes (D-CT) and U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). Blumenthal, Himes, and Murphy were joined by Lori’s mother, Merry Jackson, and by Connecticut domestic violence prevention groups. The bill is named in memory of Lori Jackson, an Oxford, Connecticut mother of two who was tragically shot and killed by her estranged husband, who had legally obtained a handgun even though he was subject to a temporary restraining order.

The Lori Jackson Domestic Violence Survivor Protection Act would close the dangerous loopholes in federal law that allow domestic abusers to legally obtain weapons if they are subject to a temporary – not permanent – restraining order. The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to consider the Lori Jackson Domestic Violence Survivor Protection Act as soon as Wednesday as part of its reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). 

“The Lori Jackson Domestic Violence Survivor Protection Act aims to close a loophole that may seem technical and abstruse, but causes real life tragedies, deaths and injuries as a result of domestic violence that turns deadly because it involves a gun,” said Blumenthal during today’s press conference. “At the time when the rage is greatest and the danger is highest after an intimate partner has said she is leaving or it’s over, the abuser can still buy a gun even with a temporary protective order. Closing this loophole is truly a matter of life and death.”

Blumenthal emphasized that the danger of domestic violence has sharply increased during the pandemic due to financial and emotional stress while gun purchases over the past year have soared, and stressed the need for urgent action: “We should honor the survivors and victims like Lori Jackson, honor with action, and this measure again as I said at the outset may seem technical, narrow, but it will save lives and it will give voice and face to the victims and survivors of domestic violence who all too often are unseen and they should be made visible, they should be given a voice and that is what the advocates are doing today and what thankfully Merry Jackson has done since 2014 when I first met her and she stepped forward.”

The full transcript of Blumenthal’s opening remarks from today’s press call is available below.

Thank you all for joining this announcement of the reintroduction Lori Jackson Domestic Violence Survivor Protection Act. And I want to thank first my partner and colleague Chris Murphy, we have worked as a team for as long as both of us have been in the United States Senate on this issue of gun violence on all the measures that we have supported and I thank him for his leadership and joining us today. And Jim Himes, my Congressman from Fairfield County, will be joining us. He is actually on a train that is arriving as we speak in Union Station. I don’t know if he’s on by phone or not but he will be joining us as well. And I particularly want to thank that advocates who are here, Liza Andrews, Director of Public Policy and Communications for the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Esperina Stubblefield, Director of the Umbrella Center for Domestic Violence Services at BHcare. And maybe most important, Merry Jackson, whom I first met after her daughter was killed in the horrific shooting that occurred in her home on May 7th in the early hours of May 7th, 2014. When I first met her, her arm was still in a bandage and a sling and she had the fortitude then and the courage to step forward as she is doing today to be a voice and face for this measure and she will be speaking as well and I thank her particularly for being on this call today.

The Lori Jackson Domestic Violence Survivor Protection Act aims to close a loophole that may seem technical and abstruse, but causes real life tragedies, deaths and injuries as a result of domestic violence that turns deadly because it involves a gun. We know that domestic violence is a scourge that is prevalent in Connecticut and every state in the country. It’s made five times more deadly when there is a gun in the house. It is a simple matter of real life death and injury caused by gun violence when guns are available to a domestic abuser. And the fact is that current federal law protects domestic violence survivors from gun violence by preventing their abusers from purchasing a firearm but only if there is a permanent protective order. In other words, if the court issues a temporary protective order which is the common practice in the first week or ten days or two weeks after a protective order is sought, there is no prohibition against an abuser buying a gun. So at the time when the rage is greatest and the danger is highest after an intimate partner has said she is leaving or it’s over, the abuser can still buy a gun even with a temporary protective order. Closing this loophole is truly a matter of life and death, and so often the victims and survivors have no voice, their presence is invisible in this process. Closing this loophole is the aim of this measures and it’s named after Lori Jackson because on May 7th, 2014, she went to her parents’ home with her two infant children and sought safety. But her estranged husbands, under a temporary protective order, had access to a gun, went to the Jackson home, killed her with four shots, and then severely injured Merry.  

This loophole exists throughout the country. Connecticut closed that loophole by state law but other states have not done so. And the purpose of this measure is very simply to offer greater protection to those survivors and victims of domestic violence by saving their lives. The individuals who seek protection can go to shelters or other safe places, they can contact agencies like the two that are represented on this call, but they are still subject to that danger and the danger has increased during this pandemic at times of higher stress, financial anxiety, emotional pressure, but also the difficulty of accessing services. And so the dangers of gun violence to domestic violence survivors has only increased and of course gun sales have also increased – almost 23 million firearms were bought in 2020 and more than two million guns were bought in January 2021 alone. The pace of gun purchases is increasing, domestic violence is a threat to women—the victims and survivors are principally women—is only increasing, and the danger of gun violence is even greater than ever before to those victims and survivors.

So this measure is more urgent than ever. We should honor the survivors and victims like Lori Jackson, honor with action, and this measure again as I said at the outset may seem technical, narrow, but it will save lives and it will give voice and face to the victims and survivors of domestic violence who all too often are unseen and they should be made visible, they should be given a voice and that is what the advocates are doing today and what thankfully Merry Jackson has done since 2014 when I first met her and she stepped forward. So thank you Merry and let me now turn to Senator Murphy.

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