The military announced Wednesday that they will take personal and military arms away from any military employee who has been convicted of domestic violence.
The ruling came a year after the Domestic Violence Gun Ban was passed, which forbids guns to anyone convicted of domestic violence. Conservative politicians such as Newt Gingrich still oppose the bill because it can take arms away from men who use them on the job, such as police and military members. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who sponsored the bill, said “If the Pentagon were as slow in protecting our nation as it is in protecting battered women and children on its own bases, then we are in a hell of a lot of trouble.”
The Pentagon said its 1.4 million active-duty troops would receive questionnaires asking if they’d even been convicted of domestic violence. If they lie, they could be convicted of a felony. The Defense Department said that the ruling wouldn’t affect troops’ ability to use large-scale weapons, warplanes and tanks.
