For Immediate Release: December 2, 2016
We must prohibit people who have engaged in intimate partner violence and stalking misdemeanants from possessing firearms.
Everytown for Gun Safety reports: “At least 52 percent of American women killed with guns are killed by intimate partners or family members. And women are 16 times more likely to be killed with guns in the U.S. than in other developed countries. Despite impressions from media coverage, mass shootings in which at least four people were killed with a gun are also typically acts of domestic or family violence: an Everytown analysis of every mass shooting between 2009-16 found that 54 percent were committed by intimate partners or family.
But research shows that common-sense gun laws have a marked effect on improving women’s safety from gun violence. In states that require background checks for all handgun sales, 47 percent fewer women are killed with a gun by intimate partners. And state laws ensuring that convicted abusers or those subject to domestic violence restraining orders are separated from their firearms are also associated with reductions in gun violence against women.”
Solutions:
– Reform background checks to base decisions on a history of use of weapons or intimate partner violence, rather than on unrelated characteristics like race, citizenship, or mental health status.
– Promote best practices related to surrender and removal procedures for prohibited persons.