The documentary, Five Awake, chronicles the journey of five Louisiana women who sought to change the state for the better by pushing through a historic legislative package to protect the victims of domestic violence and save lives…
An article in Shootonline.com sets the stage: “Susan Willis, managing partner of post company Cutting Room Films, assembled a group of NYC’s top female voices in advertising for a screening of Five Awake, the short documentary she directed and produced with activist Donna Dees. The documentary chronicles the journey of five Louisiana women who sought to change the state for the better by pushing through a historic legislative package to protect the victims of domestic violence and save lives…The women explained how though they had succeeded in passing 60 provisions in Louisiana domestic violence law, progress can only be realized if judges, police officers and the general public fully understand the reforms, underscoring the need for education and raising awareness.”
“Domestic violence is a cancer that attacks all communities,” noted [United Way of Southeast Louisiana EVP/COO Charmaine] Caccioppi in the article. “We are still in great need of the financial resources needed to treat the illness and help the families impacted.”
Their documentary details challenges, perseverance and payoffs, noting: “We talked to judges and we said, what do you think about this legislation that we’re proposing? And to tell you the truth, they were like, oh, there’s no way. There is no way you can get that done. There’s no way that our state legislature is going to allow punitive damages for victims of domestic abuse. And then on the firearm issue, they just said, you must be crazy…I think people often have kind of a bad knee jerk response to something.”
The documentary discussion continues: “They have to sit with it. They have to hear it a couple of times and really mull it over before they can start to gravitate towards it…Once we were able to put it in that context to say, we’re fourth in the nation, we’ve been in the top 10 for the last 20 years, is this really what we want our state to be reflected of? And once they really understand the issues, then they were definitely willing to take a stand with us…And what’s going to happen is enough states are going to get it, that the Feds are going to get it because that’s how you move, right? That’s how you move government forward…If Louisiana can do it, any State can do it…That Bill signing validated that when people really get passionate and decide that they want to do something to change the world, they can in fact make it better.”
Watch video below.
Domestic violence includes any form of abuse. Guns make it worse.
Physical domestic violence is one of five accepted forms of the malaise. “Domestic violence includes any form of abuse, including emotional abuse, financial abuse, mental abuse, and stalking…These types of abuse are a crime, and they are not less serious or dangerous than physical violence,” notes a 2023 Medical News Today article.
In July 2024, The US Department of Justice published a resource guide for addressing the intersection of domestic violence and firearms. It notes, “Research has shown that the presence of firearms significantly increases the risk of death or serious injury for victims of domestic or dating violence. An abuser’s use of a gun to threaten or coerce an intimate partner can leave victims at risk of severe injury and escalating coercive control. To support communities in the coordination among local, state, Tribal, and federal systems, the Office on Violence Against Women has developed this resource list of the Department of Justice’s funding, training, and partnership opportunities to enforce firearms laws intended to keep guns out of the hands of adjudicated abusers.”