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There are only a handful of challenges that can unify Washington. Hurricane-relief packages and tornado-rescue plans are up there. Wildfires and earthquakes, too. The opioid epidemic bled across Red States and Blue States alike. COVID-19 tested that unity thesis, as did the need to reassess criminal justice. But at the end of the day, America in crisis usually gives DC permission to set aside political divisions.
Until, of course, the policy pits the protection of women against limitations on guns.
For the last three decades, a landmark piece of legislation aimed at protecting women had been assumed to be durable and uncontroversial. Bill Clinton signed the Violence Against Women Act into law in 1994, and Congress had routinely renewed it every five years. (It briefly lapsed in 2011.) The law provides money for police and prosecutors to go after those who target women, established sentencing guidelines for those crimes, and created a Justice Department unit specifically to combat gender-based offenses. Then, in 2019, Democrats sought to beef it up to include protections for women against their unmarried partners and stalkers. The efforts ran head-first into objections from the gun industry, which argued that the restrictions were onerous and nebulous.
So, for the last three years, the nation’s hallmark law to keep women safe fell into neglect, at least on paper. Sure, Congress found backdoor ways to fund its main provisions, but the symbolism of its fall from the books wasn’t to be missed. Everyone in the Capitol said yes when advocates for the law like Angelina Jolie called to ask for a meeting. But ultimately, the Violence Against Women Act became a footnote and a…
Source : time
