Democrats whine, Republicans act

State Rep. Plakon

The Democrats have been whining about a "War on Women" all year, but other than demand that taxpayers pay for birth control and abortions, have the Democrats done anything to actually help women? 

In contrast, two Florida Republicans, State Representative Scott Plakon and State Senator David Simmons, co-sponsored a bill that amended Florida's stalking statutes to make it easier for victims to get legal protection from their harassers. 

The key provisions of HB1099, which took effect today, changed the legal standard needed to get a court to issue an injunction for protection against domestic violence. Before, victims had to prove that they had a "reasonable fear for his or her safety" from a threat of bodily injury or death. The new standard is a "reasonable fear for his or her safety" or the safety of the victims' family or friends. 

Frequently, stalkers may not expressly articulate a threat to hurt or kill their victims, but still exhibit a pattern of dangerous behavior. Under the old statute, a stalker could call someone hundreds of times a day, wait for them every day in the parking lot at their job, follow them around in their car, but if they didn't actually say or write a threat to kill or hurt their victim, the courts were powerless.

Lake Mary City Commissioner Jo Ann Lucarelli and her daughter faced this kind of situation years ago, and was frustrated at the old law's inability to help protect them. Lucarelli recorded this ad thanking Plakon and Simmons for their hard work on the new law:

Yeah, so the liberals can go ahead and keep whining about their War on Women, but how does showing up to a protest dressed as various parts of the female anatomy protect any actual women?

I'll take the Republican approach of actually taking action every day of the week. Kudos to Representative Plakon and Senator Simmons for their work tackling this important issue.

Further reading: WINK News | Call for Action: Stopping a Stalker