Voters should care about this bill because it addresses the intersection of hate crimes and gun violence. Currently, someone can be convicted of a violent act motivated by prejudice—such as threatening a house of worship or a person of a specific race—and as long as the crime is categorized as a misdemeanor, they can often still legally buy a gun the next day.

If this becomes law, it would create a federal standard that treats violent hate-motivated misdemeanors with the same seriousness as domestic violence misdemeanors regarding gun ownership. If it does not pass, individuals with a documented history of hate-motivated threats or violence will continue to have the legal right to purchase firearms in many states, which advocates argue increases the risk of those individuals escalating to more lethal mass-shooting events.