Hank Johnson: “Thank you, Mr. Green, my colleague from Texas, fellow barrister. I myself practiced law for 27 years before becoming a…”

“Thank you, Mr. Green, my colleague from Texas, fellow barrister. I myself practiced law for 27 years before becoming a Congressman. Much of that time was spent as a criminal defense lawyer, and 12 years of that time was spent as a magistrate court judge. So I have an intimate awareness of the domestic violence issue. And there are not many things, Mr. Speaker, that are more important than our responsibility for job creation in this Congress. Not many things can transcend that, but certainly this month, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, is a proper occasion to do that. And so, Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Between 1990 and 2005, Mr. Speaker, firearms were used to kill more than two-thirds of spouse and ex-spouse victims of domestic violence, and it's clear that the presence of guns makes domestic violence much more likely to result in death. According to one study, domestic violence assaults involving a firearm are 23 times more likely to result in death than those involving other weapons such as the gas jar, the jar of gas that threatened the life of Yvette Cade that my colleague from Texas alluded to. Most of these deaths will come from the use of firearms. And, unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, one in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes. We are talking about our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, and our friends. Their lives, Mr. Speaker, are at stake.…”