Mike Thompson: “Also, on the issue of domestic abusers, the idea that this body would make it easier for domestic abusers to get new…”

“Also, on the issue of domestic abusers, the idea that this body would make it easier for domestic abusers to get new technology in tasers is just beyond explanation. We should be extremely worried about these people getting this type of technology. In 2014, a Washington, DC resident (name withheld to protect the victim's privacy) abused his wife with a TASER, repeatedly shocking her in the face and head. While she was still suffering the effects of the TASER, he repeatedly hit her in the head with a baseball bat, punched her multiple times in the face, and then sexually assaulted her. In 2018, a New Jersey man threatened his girlfriend repeatedly with a TASER in the course of raping her several times over multiple incidents. Eventually, he carried through with his threat, tasing her in the neck and raping and sodomizing her. These incidents are both horrific and emblematic of a larger issue: domestic abusers' use of weapons to exert power and coercive control over their victims. As a nation, we should erect more barriers to domestic abusers acquiring weapons, not demolish existing protections.”