House Democrats sneak gun control measures into Violence Against Women Act reauthorization

The House of Representatives voted 263 to 158 on a Democrat-led bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act on Thursday. Only 33 Republicans voted for the legislation. However, anybody who tries to cast those numbers as Republican indifference to violence against women isn’t telling the whole story.

Rather than simply reauthorize the law, Democrats used the opportunity to add more federal gun control to legislation originally aimed at combating domestic violence and sexual assault.

“Republicans are committed to reauthorizing VAWA, however, Democrats have refused to engage on the issue in a meaningful, bipartisan manner and instead rushed a partisan bill to the floor,” reads a statement to Blaze Media from the office of Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.

In a Wednesday speech on the House floor, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said the current bill is nearly “unrecognizable from the legislation originally passed in 1994.”

“In the name of protecting women, Democrats are exploiting this bill as an opportunity to assault the Second Amendment rights of American citizens,” Roy continued, “and it’s despicable that anyone would seize on this as such an opportunity to weaponize a measure that was intended to protect victims.”