Opinion: I’m a gun violence survivor. I know background checks can make a difference

Eight years ago, my sister saw our father approaching our home and knew we were in danger.

My father had a history of violent behavior. He hid it well, so people outside our family never knew, but it was terrifying. I remember telling my friends that one day he would try to kill me, but nobody took me seriously. After my parents got divorced, we even filed for a protective order against him to make sure he couldn’t come onto the property.

But none of that stopped him on June 15, 2012. That night, he climbed over our fence, slashed our tires, and broke through the bathroom door where we were hiding. Then he repeatedly shot me, my mom, and my then-boyfriend (now husband).

Amazingly, we all survived — but it took a long time to recover physically, and the mental scars, well, we’re still recovering from those.

In the years since, I’ve tried to think of myself as a survivor — not a victim — and dedicate myself to telling my story and stopping tragedies like that from happening to other families. In doing so, I’ve come to the horrific realization that my story is far from unique. The link between domestic violence and guns in our country is deadly and well-documented: In more than half of mass shootings over the past decade, the perpetrator shot an intimate partner or family member as part of the rampage. And between 2009 and 2018, 80 percent of child victims of mass shootings died in incidents connected to domestic or family violence.

These statistics would be appalling even if there was nothing we could do to stop this senseless violence, but they are somehow made worse by the fact that there is so much we can do.

I am particularly reminded of that fact today, because exactly one year ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 8 — a bill requiring background checks on all gun sales — with bipartisan support. The bill would be a landmark achievement, the first major gun safety legislation to become federal law in decades, and it could immediately save lives by preventing convicted domestic abusers from purchasing firearms. But instead of becoming law or saving lives, H.R. 8 has sat untouched on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desk for each of the 365 days since, because he has refused to give it a vote in the Senate.

H.R. 8 would be particularly impactful here in Texas, where there is no state law requiring background checks on all gun sales — meaning that guns are easy to acquire with no background check and no questions asked.

Our senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, have failed to address this crisis. Rather than urging Senator McConnell to grant H.R. 8 a vote, Senators Cruz and Cornyn have followed his lead, failing to support H.R. 8 even though the vast majority of Texans and nearly 90% of gun owners support background checks on all gun sales. Notably, the Cruz and Cornyn’s position mirrors that of the NRA, which has given them both ‘A+’ ratings, featured them at the annual NRA convention, and given money to their reelection efforts.

Their inaction comes with a body count. Across America, an estimated 38,000-plus people have been killed by gun violence since the House passed H.R. 8, and twice that many have been wounded. Here at home, the shooter who killed seven people in last year’s West Texas mass shooting wouldn’t have been able to buy the murder weapon if H.R 8 had been signed into law and background checks were required on all gun sales.

As a proud Texan, I believe it’s time to demand better from the politicians who are supposed to represent our great state. Despite what NRA says, it’s not extreme to want to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and criminals. Nor is it extreme to want to pass laws that save lives. As a survivor, I know that background checks can be the difference between life and death.

But you don’t have to be a survivor like me to know that enough is enough. If our representatives in Congress and the State House won’t listen to the overwhelming number of Texans who support background checks on all gun sales, then we’ll vote against them this November.

I’ll bet they’ll start listening then.

El-Haj is a Survivor Fellow in the Everytown for Gun Safety Survivor Network. She lives in Texas.