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it is my great privilege
to welcome vice president biden attorney general eric holder senator ben cardin
and governor martin o'malley
to montgomery county
for this important announcement
as we gather to recognize our many accomplishments
we must also recognize that there is still much to do
we have long recognized
that no single agency
can solve the scourge of domestic violence
here in montgomery county
we've spent the last fifteen years
looking for ways to increase the collaboration
between law enforcement
and our human services
as we created
specialized domestic violence units in agencies and interagency teams
we found a value in these relationships
many of these collaborations
were fund
many of these collaborations were enhanced with funding from the office of violence
against women
for which we truly truly thank you
the culmination of these efforts was the opening in two thousand nine
of montgomery counties family justice center
we have assisted nearly five thousand
clients at the family justice center with services such as safety planning
counseling
assistance with protective orders
criminal investigations
immigration legal services
and attorneys for protective order hearings
we've developed innovative processes such as video conferencing between the
court's and family justice center
so that victims won't have to leave the safety and security of the center
to get a temporary order of protection
we have an excellent team of people at the family justice center
with staff from my office the sheriff's office
John McCarthy our state's attorney for montgomery county
chief tom manger the police department Montgomery county police department
the department of health and human services as well as our non-profits
the house of ruth of maryland and catholic charities immigrations legal
services
before i close i would just like to share some comments that i try to do
everywhere i go i speak about the family justice center
that would have been shared with us with our clients
from our clients
i felt safe
well-informed
and not alone
i feel comforted
and happy everytime i leave your office
my daughter is seven
and the staff was wonderful to her
i believe you help me with my future
and finally
what's also what took you so long to think of this place
have we accomplished a lot
yes we have
can we do better
we must
because lives are at stake
well we have made a tremendous progress in the fight against domestic violence
and we are
very proud of it
vice president biden will
join us today here in maryland
along with attorney general holder
to showcase what we've done in maryland
and to make it clear that we have to do better
uh... that there are too many people that are being victimized today
in all communities including maryland again with domestic violence i want to
congratulate the maryland network against domestic violence for the work
you have done
the programs that have been started here are model programs
and we will hear later today how we are going to build on what's been done in
maryland nationwide
and we should be very proud of the work that we've done in our state
for vice president biden has been involved in programs against domestic
violence though since his early days in the united states senate
uh... in nineteen ninety four when the violence against women act was first
authorized
of vice president baden was in the leadership on that
uh... he understands the importance of the federal programs that help
uh... provide the services that are necessary
to prevent domestic violence and to help those who have been
victimized
but he's also a leader on gun safety issues because we know the direct
relationship
between guns and domestic violence
and that we can do much better
we have a federal laws that prohibit offenders from possessing
uh... weapons
but without a a background check that's effective too many people have guns who
shouldn't have guns
so we need to get background checks
in every state in the nation
the states that have background checks
38 percent fewer homicides as a result of domestic violence
these laws make sense
and in the united states senate
as we speak
we are considering legislation to provide a national background check and
we need to get that done
for many reasons including protecting people against of domestic violence
we've got almost twenty years under the violence against women act
and it's made a huge difference is provided the legal civil economic and
social safeguards for victims of domestic violence
every time we've reauthorize the program we have improved it we did that in two thousand
two thousand five
and now two thousand and thirteen
with president obama signing the violence against women act
we have improvements we've included all victims for protecton including
students
racial minorities
tribal members
immigrants and the lgbt community
and we're proud of that campus safety provisions that have been added to the
bill are extremely
important *** kit availability
all that has been improved
by the twenty thirteen
but has been pointed out we need to do more
the sheriff is absolutely right
we can point with pride reductions in the homicide rates
that we've seen
but we know that one death is too many
we need to do a better job thank you all and it's a great day and uh...
really humbling honore to be here with all of you on this very very important
issue
of reducing domestic violence and
I want to thank the sheriff and his men and women here montgomery county
for their efforts I know
we're also joined by the sheriff of prince george's county
also want to thank ben cardin
for his leadership in the united states senate
what an outstanding job he does representing maryland so very very well
and times when
some are saying we need to be less and less
when it comes to domestic violence
and reducing violence in america
ben cardin says we must do more
and i'm just so very proud of his efforts and those of senator
mikulski on behalf of all
of maryland
and what a great honor it is that the vice president of united states should come to
maryland today isn't
it
i am so grateful for the the vice presidents presence here today and also attorney
general Holder
and and also for the vice president's leadership for so many years as senator
cardin pointed out on the the important issue of violence
against women
there are people in this audience i look out and i see faces in the eyes of so
many who have done so much and continue to work so hard
every day on the front lines helping victims of domestic violence
pulling together the services realizing that we are much stronger
together than you can never possibly be
in either silo'd law enforcement or silo'd nonprofits or silo'd hospital
uh... care
really what this is all about is
uh... is about better collaboration
taking better actions together
elevating
the intelligence of the systems that we have
put in place
to protect women and all people against domestic violence
and also to uh...
and and also to really share information in ways that
technology makes possible now that we could never have dreamed of being able to do
in such a timely fashion even as few as seven or eight years ago so
this requires partnerships on all fronts we've driven down domestic violence
together in maryland by seventeen percent since two thousand six
uh... we've implemented a number of new things we do not believe that
violent crime is something the nation
driven by the gulf stream or barometric pressure
this is not the weather
uh... while we together we have the ability to try a violent crime down
by doing more of the things that we know work
and that's why with your help we've passed legislation
that empowers our judges to remove guns from the homes of abusive and violent
offenders that lieutenant governor anthony brown championed with your support
the maryland general assembly
the partner violence screenings information sharing initiatives law enforcement
training hospital-based victim programs
of the lethality assessment programs that our offices of crime control and
prevention
with president obama and vice president bidens support have now expanded those
lethality assessment that eighty six percent of our population now has their
local law enforcement engaged in implementing those lethality
assessments
now we know where the other fourteen percent is and they will follow suit
soon
so in maryland we choose to govern by the results
and uh... we know what works and we know that we need to do more of it's not
about ideology
it's about sharing information
it's about realizing that if you save just one life
it is as if you have saved the world and together we can save a lot more
lives
sharing information
raising the intelligence of our systems acting more promptly more quickly and
most importantly acting together with the help
of a forward moving federal administration
uh... that understands that partnerships is what's required in order to reduce
domestic violence
thank you all so very very much for the great work your doing lets keep it up
thanks
my name is jeff spaulding and Im chief of police in westminster maryland a
community about ninety thousand residents in the beautiful rolling hills
of central maryland
we welcome the opportunity to be part of this program this morning
our department's been engaged in the lethality assessment program since two
thousand and eight
we partner in this effort with our local domestic violence programme
family and children's services of central maryland
since implementing this program our officers have
been successful in getting ninety one-percent or high-risk domestic
violence victims on the phone to speak with the domestic violence advocate
immediately while we're still there at the scene handling the circumstances as
we find them
we've had no domestic violence homicides since we began the lethality
assessment program
and i believe that this program has played a key role in that success
as a judge in superior court of the district of columbia eric Holder saw first
hand the suffering and long term from experience by women and children who
were victims of domestic violence
and as the u_s_ attorney in the district of columbia he created the first
domestic violence unit in the history of that office
as attorney general he furthered his commitment
to combat childhood exposure to violence by creating the department of justice's
defending childhood initiative
is my great honor and privilege to introduce the chief law enforcement officer of the united
states attorney general eric holder
thank you chief for those kind words and for your services as chief
of the westminster police department it's a privilege to stand with
you today
and to join vice president joe biden and so many dedicated law enforcement officers
victim service providers and strong advocates here in montgomery county
i'd really like to thank the vice president for his leadership over the
years and
fighting against domestic violence
i'd like to acknowledge hard work of governor martin o'malley along with
maryland's outstanding senators ben cardin
we are honored to have you with us today
and barbara mikulski who couldn't make it
today uh... who's a special in my heart she's the head ah...
budget committee I have to go talk to her
sometime next week I believe
i'd like to also applaud and montgomery county sheriff darren popkin the
montgomery county family justice center and maryland network against domestic
violence for their long-standing commitment
uh... to domestic violence homicide prevention
this morning i am proud to join vice president biden in unveiling the
first ever domestic violence homicide prevention demonstration
initiative grant awards
through which the justice department will distribute a total of two point three
million dollars to twelve cities and counties around the country to support
innovative programs dedicated to predicting potentially lethal behavior
stopping escalation of violence
and saving lives
the same week that congress voted to reauthorize and too long for them to do
it but they
finally did it the same week that congress voted to reauthorize the violence
against women act
at least fifteen women
and four men
were killed
by intimate partners the day the vote took place
the very day he vote took place one woman was beaten to death
with a baseball bat by her boyfriend
another was shot by her husband that she left a a movie theater
and yet another one
five months pregnant was also murdered by her boyfriend who drove her to uh...
drove her body to a wooded area and burned it
all with her two children
in the car this is on the same day
that vawa was reauthorized
now
these are
these are horrible unspeakable acts but on average three women are murdered every
day in this country by a boyfriend
husband or ex husband
experts estimate that for
every victim of domestic violence was killed
an additional nine an additional nine
nearly lose their lives
and many others including children co-workers neighbors and
and police officers are injured or killed while trying to stop volent acts
simply because they're in the wrong place
at the wrong time
this is why our nation's department of justice and our colleagues
across the administration are determined
to fight back
in raleigh north carolina
the local united state's attorney's office recently intervened in a matter
where the defendant possessed ammunition contravention of state domestic
violence
restraining order now
one of the bulls they found
had the victims name written
one of the bullet
as result we believe that the intervention that happened there may have
saved a life
beyond our traditional
enforcement efforts and the development and evaluation of domestic
violence homicide prevention models and uh... adapting these models for
different communities this new initiative will strengthen our ability
to reduce these heinous crimes and to help those who are risk
as we have repeatedly seen
homicide reduction strategies work
eight years ago a crisis center in newburyport massachusetts implemented a
a high-risk case response team
under this program
each time a
high-risk offender is identified a team of law enforcement
prosecutors probation officers and
victim advocates search for open warrants they make arrests they connect
victims with services they use pretrial conditions to keep offenders in custody
as a result
more than one hundred cases where high-risk team provided management
between two thousand five
two thousand eleven there was not a single domestic violence homicide
similarly here in maryland lethality assessment program has enabled
enforcement to identify over twenty five thousand high danger victims of
domestic violence
more than half of them
have spoken on the phone with domestic violence
hotline workers
nearly a third have sought further assistance from domestic violence
programs and not a single one of them
not a single one of them
has been seriously injured or killed
thanks to initiatives like this one
countless public service and victim advocates maryland has witnessed a
decrease of more than one-third intimate partner homicides over the past five
years at a time when some states are reporting record spikes in domestic
violence murders
in this morning's announcement I believe provides good reason for confidence in
where these and similar efforts will lead us in the critical days and months
ahead
so once again i'd like to thank vice president biden for his leadership
i'd like to commend each of today's participants for lending their voices to
this extremely important work I'd like to congratulate each of our twelve grant
recipients
it is now my privilege
to introduce janet blackburn
a really courageous advocate for victims of domestic violence who has transformed
the pain of her own immeasurable loss into a positive force
for change
please join me in welcoming
Janet to the podium
good morning i want to share with you
my family story
i can't help but think if the lethality assessment program was in place
for my sister i might not be standing here right now
but the questions were not asked
the answers were not given
and the assessment was not made
the screening would have revealed that my sister gail pumphrey was at high risk are
being killed by her abuser
her ex husband
even after their divorce in two thousand seven
he continued to torment and terrorized her
gail feared he might kill her
she knew he had a gun
was her fear justified
that question would be answered thanksgiving day two thousand seven
through a court order gail would deliver the children to their father
that afternoon
the exchange would take place outside the law enforcement center
as requested by gail and granted by the courts
this is where she felt most safe
however
the day before he called
and offered her two extra hours with their children
at the same time
he changed the drop off location
to park and ride
to have the extra time with here children gail agreed to the park and ride
deviating from the safe exchange
at the law enforcement center
he used her love for her children
to get his way
no one will know what lies he told that day to convince gail to drive to unity park
here in montgomery county
this is where would carry out the ultimate act
uh... power and control
around nine twenty pm
he lifeless bodies of
gail pumphery
age forty three
and her children
david age twelve
megan age ten and brandon age seven were found
each was shot multiple times with the twenty two caliber rifle
he then took his own life
just this once my sister let down here guard
the lethality screening would have validated gails fear
and perhaps she would have recognized and acted on these warning signs
perhaps here high risk status
would have played a part decisions made by others
and she and the children would have been offered greater protection
perhaps
they could have been saved
and now a man
who has saved many lives
with the introduction of the violence against women act
it is my honor to introduce vice president
biden
Mariska Hargitay is
with me today and uh... i have to say that uh...
with us today
Mariska
you've been with us a lot
i had a great honor and pleasure getting to know Mariska you all know
her from the television series she stars in but uh...
I've gotten to know her for her heart
and her
intellect uh... this is a woman who has
devoted i don't know how you find the time
for what you do but uh...
has devoted a considerable
amount of her time and her fortune
to dealing with
these issues of abuse
and uh...
hey ben ben cardin
thank you for permission to be in your state today
and governor governor o'malley
and i understand that uh...
the man who uh...
who prepared me to
survive
debate chris van hollan
it's his district is that right
and chris's trying to
figure out how to do a budget back in the house and he's not here to acknowledge him
but uh...
Mariska has become a champion for so many women
uh... whether it's a
as the white house uh...
domestic violence
awareness month or at my home in the violence against women act when we were
celebrating its passage everything that uh...
good we've done to try to
change this
this scourge
on our society
you know uh...
um...
this is uh... the most tragic
of all time when a
man who claims to love a woman an
estranged husband boyfriend uh...
an ex-boyfriend actually
in his
I don't know how to describe it
his warped view
of
his right ad roll
relative to that woman decides that he has that
the right to
to take her life
a lot of people have told us over the years since we began this effort
on violence against women field
that uh... you know there's certain behaviors
you can't change you've heard
there are certain things you
you can't legislate for merely relationships you can't legislate
certain things were used to call
passion we know now they are crimes of power
but uh... there's not much you can do about that i've heard that refrain from
the first day I picked up a pen to
begin drafting
I actually did pick a
a pen we usually get a lot of help
but uh... i was determined uh...
to do something about that
the epidemic
of violence against women in our society
some if you heard me say this before but i was raised by a guy a
gentlemen strongman my Dad
who thought that
worse sin of all cardinal sin
if a man raises his hand
to a woman or child or anyone
with
power abused their power
that was the single worst sin
a human being could commit
you know
when
we started this effot long long time
ago and many of you started before i did
we were constantly met with the refrain that
this is a family issue
not the business of government
we actually had we're holding those hearings begin testimony
from actual
one uh... psychologist saying isn't ther just something that triggers a
man's brain can't be held responsible
we are into a culture which we've been trying to fight back where um...
anytime a woman was abused some how it was here fault
she shouldn't have walked that way she should not look that way and why wasn't
dinner on the table
isn't the bed made it was the fault
and the hearings that I held I was dumbfounded
twenty two years ago
when people would actually
testify and women would who had been abused and dy I thoug I had saying i thought i had done something
done something wrong and establishing the principle that
no man has the right to raise is hand to a woman
for
any reason at all
for any reason at all other
than the self defense
there's never
justification
no matter what she's wearing or not wearing no matter where she is no matter what
she said
period
there's no right
when I first uttered that phrase in a hearing
i got some death threats
i was pilloried
for suggesting that what an outrageous
actually what i said was a if a woman
got up and out of my hearing and walked across
to the capitol stark naked
she could be arrested for indecent exposure but no man had a right
to do anything to her other than her to be arrested for indecent exposure
and that was the that was the comment that
that set off fires
that somehow
women
who are abused
it was what they're wearing
they said
didnt show up on time or whatever
we're constantly told nothing could be done about this
nothing really to be done this was part of our culture
that's when i was told it's been a lot of what you were told
that nothing could be done but
we're all refused to accept that
and i think the collective refusal of all of you in
this room and many others
has proven critical to tens of thousands of women
all across america
people once said we would never change the way a
we enforce the law
the sheriff and chief will tell you that used to be that there was a reluctance
to arrest
for any reason other than
a sworn complaint
uh... we changed the law so you can arrest
you you could arrest on observation that a crime had been
committed
we learned that it was awful hard for
five foot two hundred seventy woman standing before six foot three two hundred forty
pound guy who beat the living hell out of her
to turn to a police officer and and say yes he beat me
knowing he'd be out tomorrow and probably do it again
we changed the law
we order specialized police units
that finally changed the way a
we respond to these calls instead of just talking about
taking the guy for a walk around the block and telling him to calm down
we learned how we could legally arrest him
and put him in jail
we learned that it was important when you shoed up at the scene of a crime to take photos of the
bruises take photographs that have photographic evidence
so didn't just come down to he said she said when it got to the point of the
trial
three months later and the woman physically looking ok and healthy
all these things helped change the way we
deal with this issue
people once said we never stop husbands
from tracking there wives from state to state
we change the laws so orders of protection
had enforcement across state lines and it mattered
people used to say we didn't need a national hotline to
combat domestic violence but
we set it up anyway and now
that hotline answers over two million calls
a year
and imagine the courage it takes for a woman
being abused essentially held in prison from home
to walk over to
pick up the phone
and whispered into a phone to someone she doesn't know and not at all sure
anything is going to come back her way
fearful her husband might hear
i need help
i need help
but its begun to change
two million women last year
took that courageous step
of picking up a phone
and overall rate of domestic violence is dropped over sixty percent since
we passed the violence against women
act nineteen ninety four
and i might add
that the *** rate
for women is actually down
we've learned a lot over the last twenty years what we've learned most is if
we look hard enough
we can identify
behavioral patterns most likely to result in something like
the taking of life
you know this is a process
of learning and now that we've delved in it and resolved that we're gonna do something about it
everyday three women die at the hands of
a boyfriend or a husband or ex-husband
three women every single solitary day
these aren't statistics
these are mothers
sisters
daughters
these are people who mean the world to their families
and for those families it means
a father who
won't hear is daughter's laugh
or mom who
will not feel the caress a daughter running her hand along her face
the child who reaches out at night
and nobody's hand to grasp
we have to do everything in our power
every single thing in our power
to keep these tragedies from occurring
and my message today and the message you have already heard
is we can we can do more
to prevent these tragedies from happening
we can fundamentally alter
that rate of homicide
and governor o'malley
that's exactly what you've done in the state
in a sense it is both complicated and simple
we've learned that certain behaviors on the part of an abuser
portend much more danger than other behaviors
for example if an abuser has attempted to strangle
his victim
if he's threatened to shoot her
if he sexually assaulted her
and there's a number of other sides about eight others these are telltale
signs
this is not your garden variety
slap across the face which is totally
unacceptable in and of itself
these are the guys
these are the guys
this is the category
from which you are most likely to get those folks
who will take out
a gun the next time and blow their brains out
who was strangle to death the next time
so what we've learned is that
when a police officer shows up at a scene or a victim shows up in and emergency room
that's the time to talk to her
right then and there
we learn from the very beginning
there is a very narrow window
of very narrow window
for most women
to have the courage and capacity
to say exactly what happened
and if you don't catch it then
she may be gone
she may be gone right back into the arms of abusers thinking again rationalizing
as happens this
this is an aberration
I can fix this this can work
and so
when we in fact uh...
began this twenty five years ago
uh... that's why we learned that when a one-woman shows up in in
and emergency room
that's the time
when she and by the way the majority of women showing up with a broken
bone
or bleeding
her bleeding and her broken bones are the consequences of
a man's fist
now the intake docs knew that
but they'd say
why that black eye
why that bruise on your face ell I ran into a door jam
you know that's not what happened
so what we did
we through the violence against women act encouraged
emergency rooms
we actually set up units
to ask that no it's okay
it's okay to tell me
because i have a policeman right outside here
who will put you in a car
and i have a lawyer i can get you to who will get you a protective order
and we can provide housing for you don't have to
if we don't get them at that moment
we learned
it's most likely they will
uh... slide right back in
that vulnerable position she was in before
the same thing can be said of what we've learned with regard to
those women who ultimately
die at the hands
of their husbands
if a police officer or nurse
asks the right questions at the right time
it may save a women's life down the road
so the grants that we have
that the attorney general has announced
to communities all across the country will give them the tools
the tools they need to train local folks
to look at predictive behavior
so that we do one of two things
you get that woman out of harm's way you provide her with the vehicle
and many women
who have been victimized like this
have never fully understood what services are available to her
all you guys out there think about
when you were kids who played on the playground
the bully
knocked you down to the ground
and took your lunch money
remember what your dad said just look up
and punch him right square in
his nose and he'll bleed and he'll leave
how many had the nerve to do it was true
it was true that's what happened
not a lot of guys i grew up with had that nerve
and yet we stand back and we say why wouldn't women
having gone through this why didn't you just stand up and leave
it's human nature
but if in fact
they know
that there's a way out
there's a safe haven
the law can be on their side
police will protect
that there's a possibility of geting a stay away orde
there's even a community in massachusetts who goes even further
which i think it's a great idea
just editorializing here
that in fact focuses on
focuses on the abuser
does background checks to determine whether there's anything
in that persons background they can find to be able to
arrest that person
are there any outstanding warrents for that person is
is there any crime they have committed are they being looked for
whatever it is
i think both should be done in my humble opinion but
these grants are going to uh...
be able to set up programs and make sure that when an officer who shows up and scene of a crime
or a nurse sees a victim with suspicious injuries
they will talk to them
and ask them specific questions
not just and them a pamphlet
ask some specific questions
about the nature of the abuse about the threats that have occurred before
and be able to give them the warning and also given the option out
as to how they can get out of that circumstance
if a woman tells them
that her husband tried to strangle her or threaten her with a weapon
or other hi risk factors
they could help her get in touch with domestic violence hotline they could not
get to the local law enforcement you know i mean with local
uh... local courts they can help them get statements help them get to shelters
you know they can sit with her while she makes the calls
uh... this is all one woman at the time this is not it's not like it's something
that you can
have a cookie cutter for
this is one woman at a time one of the things i learned early on this and i apologize
for going into this detail
but it's all granular
the way this works
i remember as I used to be a public defender
in the city of wilmington delaware
or the state of delaware when I
before I was elected to senate
I can
remember how
one of the things that
what happens in family court woman would walk in
start to walk up to an intake officer and say
I want to report
speak up I can't here hear you
that one sentence is enough to have a woman turnaround walk out the door
because this is such a
tough call
such a tough call for a woman to make
at that moment
she's thinking about her kid at home
she is thinking about where will she go
what she will be able to eat
she's thinking about what clothes will be on her back
this whole
idea
identify the women who are
most at risk
and hands-on
get her to a better place
get her to different place
let me make it clear that we believe this will save lives it already has
it is our hope is that we saves lives here
in the state of maryland
it save lives in places where these programs have been set up
now one of the things some of our critics will say is it is only basically
twelve grants across the country
and this is not going to be a
drop in the bucket
our hope is my belief is
communities will pick this up on their own when they see the successes
i hope that by next year there will be twelve these programs would be twenty
five by the next won't twelve but twenty-five and by the next tone hundred
then a thousand
you say well joe
you know uh...
um... what kind of
pollyannish
well uh...
we convince people
and when people see good things it spreads
back when we were writing the violence against women law
we made an overwhelming dent here's what we did
we went in and had a report doing a day in the life of a woman
in america we went to all these states and pointed out the laws that were
impediments
impediments to women's safety
after we passed the violence against woman act we we couldn't change the stat e laws
we didn't have the authority to do that
in the meantime
since then seven hundred laws have been passed
in the states
and state level
seven hundred laws
had been changed
in my home state of delaware one of the first one changed
which was uh... asounding
if a woman went our on a date with a man who the man that had abused
her
or *** her
that maybe you could not be held liable could not be convicted of first-degree
***
only second degree ***
think what that said about the cultural norms in this country
and if you went out with me and you knew me
you must have done something
you must somehow be partially response
for my raping you
if i jumped out of and alley and didn't know you and did the exact same thing
to you I did to you on a date
i can be held
for first-degree ***
but if I knew you
and you willingly went out with me
it had to be second-degree
the point I am making here is once we show the way federally
seven state states all across america change seven hundred
of their existing laws on the books
they toughened in response to nasty violent *** assaults stalking
and that's the overwhelming reason why the nation has changed
it's not just the violence against women
is changing the culture
cultural norms
of what we are prepared to accept and not accept
so it's our hope that
this program
becomes a model for every community across
the great thing is the governor knows better than
than i do
governors and mayors this case will be local officials mayors county executives
etcetera
that's a great area of experimentation
some will come up with programs even better than the ones that exist
and the best model
the best model wil emerge
and the reason is because of all of you out here
all of you are here who are not elected officials
are basically providers
you're the women and men who see that woman walked through the door
you are the women or men
who's sitting down with and talking to who understands the horror of her circumstance
and we find a better way no matter where it's found
there's folks like you all across this nation
led by women like Mariska
who are going to see to it that the best model
comes to the fore
so all this is meager
in the scope of
billion-dollar budgets
the scope of the problem
it is consequencial
as I predict to you
this will change
there is another fact that is not
very much known
as you may know i've been working at the president's request on
gun safety
since uh
that god awful tragedy
twenty innocent babies
were just brutally murdered
up in sandy hook
and uh...
what most people don't know what they think of mass murders
they think of sandy hook and columbine virginia tech
and aurora
most of the women who die
in a domestic homicide case
dies because of a gun
and many of these cases is not just the abuse woman who loses their life
it's innocent bystanders
from two thousand nine two thousand twelve
forty percent of all shootings
with four or more victims
started
with the murderer targeting a girlfriend
ex wife
or wife
and there is a one number
that you should hear
a recent study shows the number of woman shot to death by an intimate partners thirty
six
eight thirty percent
in states that require background checks for hand guns
guns are the surest way to kill some
they are the weapon of choice
and in those states where you need a background check
there's thirty five percent fewer murders of wives
ex-girlfriends etcetera
the issue of domestic violence and reducing gun violence are connected
they both require urgent action
that's why the president and I believe that
every person who buys a gun
every person
should have criminal background check
because there are some people we know should not home comes domestic abusers
and we had this gigantic fight some remember because you helped me with it
this gigantic fight
authorization before this last
domestic violence law
seeing to it that misdemeanors were included
if they were domestic violence misdemeanors
because again we know the pattern
and it mattered
and it mattered
since that has been passed that its included
someone who's convicted
even if it's a misdemeanor
of *** assault domestic abuse
cannot own a weapon
they shouldn't
remember that fight a lot of you are nodding your heads you were all in that up to your ears
but guess what
it works in those states where they
universal background checks required
thirty five percent fewer
domestic violence murders
but the point is
that in those murders that we are focusing today
forty percent of them
it occurs in the office space
the restaurant
in a place where other people are present
and so forty percent of the cases
where there are more than four people
injured with a gun or murdered
the consequence of domestic violence dispute
so convicted criminals and those who are in danger themselves that should not
have access to
it's common sense
I want to compliment the senate judiciary committee yesterday for voting to expand
the background checks
the full senate will vote on that soon its my hope and i know you
its my hope we can convince our colleagues that passed that common sense piece of
legislation
folks are
aya
we know this uh...
this violence can be stopped
greatly reduced without
impinging on anyone's second amendment right
it has no impact on them
to bear arms
it has zero impact
but it can fundamentally alter
physical safety
particularly of women who are the victims domestic abuse I truly believe
we can achieve this together because uh... progress does happen
as I said just look at two weeks ago
when the ah...
united states house of representatives at long last
passed the violence against woman act
it's kind of disturbing to think that we're still debating
but it got passed
it got passed
it's going to make a difference
i've spoken too long I feel too strongly about the subject I guess but
the generic point
and the specific point made
the attorney general announced today
will save women's lives
it will save women's lives
we should act on the things we know
and we know those telltale signs
of the person most likely to engage in the most violent of abuse
and we can get ahead of it
god knows how many women would be alive today
if we'd gotten ahead of it earlier
progress I am as committed
as the governors
and as the senator is the attorney general is to stop
women being abused
at the hands of
someone who allegedly loved her
is an overwhelming exception
an overwhelming exception
not happening
three times a day in america
it's a blight
on our nation's conscience
there's no higher or more urgent
need than to deal with it now i would be remiss if I did not thank the
police
you guys have been
my biggest cooperation and everybody
you helped write the best domestic violence legislation back over twenty
years ago you've enforced it with
honor and dignity
and I want to thank you
publicly recognize your efforts because it's not easy
there's nothing more than dangerous for a law enforcement officer to be called to a domestic violence
at a two-story walk-up having no idea
what he or she
is going to meet when that door opens
so I thank you for
for your commitment thank you for your courage and
god bless you all
my grandpa would say with the grace of god
good will of the neighbors
and the creek not rising we could make some real progress here