Firearms and Domestic Violence Fatalities: Preventable Deaths

Abstract

This Article addresses the highly gendered nature of victimization within intimate relationships, firearm ownership, and intimate partner firearm fatalities. Research shows that racial prejudice, political moments, and societal images of “frontier masculinity” produce higher rates of firearm ownership by white men than by other demographics; furthermore, firearm possession correlates with high rates of perpetrating domestic violence and intimate fatalities, making restricting abuse perpetrators’ access to firearms important. Practitioners and courts face hard realities when seeking to prevent intimate fatalities, including the gendered knowledge gap as to whether there are guns in the home, the ease of access to firearms in the United States, and implementation gaps that must be closed for laws to be effective. In proposing reforms, the Article posits legislative reforms and public health and pragmatic community solutions.