Certainly, and at the risk of running out of time.... I think we should all acknowledge that we don't make good decisions if elected officials sit among one another behind closed doors and come up with an idea. There are experts who have dedicated their lives or careers, or who are willing to loan their expertise earned through lived experience, to informing what changes cause problems in people's lives and what solutions will avoid those problems for people going forward.
We spoke with law enforcement, with victims advocates, with people who have been victimized by crimes, including sexual crimes, and with people who have lost their family members to violence. We want to respond to the very real-world phenomenon that too many people are being hurt, too many people are being abused and too many people are being killed. We want to breathe their voices into the laws we adopt so that we can offer protections for people who are living through circumstances that they continue to live with the consequences of every single day.