In a recent clip from Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, the comedian satirizes the connection between mass shootings and domestic violence — several days before the Sutherland Springs church shooting.
According to a study by Everytown for Gun Safety, 54 percent of mass shootings in the U.S. from 2009 to 2016 were related to domestic or family violence.
In her usual humorous and darkly sarcastic delivery, Bee said, "Mass shooters come in all male shapes and all male sizes, but most of them rehearse for it the same way" — through a pattern of domestic abuse.
She called for the end of "the boyfriend loophole," referring to the 20-year-old Lautenberg Act that barred individuals convicted of domestic abuse who are married, in a domestic partnership, or have children to own guns. Outside of those paramters, domestic abusers are still allowed to own guns.
Devin P. Kelley, the gunman who killed 26 people at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs on Nov. 5, had a history of beating his wife and stepson. The domestic violence conviction should have barred him from purchasing firearms, but due to a failure by the Air Force to enter his court-martial into the proper federal database, Kelley was allowed to legally aquire firearms.
"Abused women are the canary in the coal mine for mass shootings," Bee said. "And the law shouldn’t care if the person holding a gun is married, because the gun definitely doesn’t."
Watch the full segment below:
[Editor's note: video contains explicit language]
Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback!
