Domestic violence and gun violence are alarmingly linked, impacting victims across the county. Abusers who own guns are five times more likely to kill their victims and possess more power dynamics, allowing them to exert coercive control and other forms of violent abuse. A disproportionate impact exists among communities of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and those with disabilities, though a lack of reporting makes data scarce. Gun violence is primarily experienced by women with male partners and can be amplified overtime.
Guns and Domestic Violence: The Impact
4.7 percent of women (5.9 million) in the United States reported having a gun used on them by a current or former intimate partner at some point in their lifetime.
Leemis, Ruth W. et al. “The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey : 2016/2017 Report on Intimate Partner Violence”, 2022.
Link: The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey : 2016/2017 Report on Intimate Partner Violence and Guns and Violence Against Women: America’s Uniquely Lethal Intimate Partner Violence Problem | Everytown Research & Policy
Every month, an average of more than 70 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner.
Everytown Research analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), Average: 2020–2022.
Over the 10-years from 2014 to 2023, there was a 22 percent increase in intimate partner homicides of women. This trend was driven by homicides with guns, which increased by 36 percent. During the same period, female intimate partner homicides by all other means increased by 3 percent.
Everytown Research analysis of FBI Supplemental Homicide Report (SHR) data from 2014–2023.
According to recent Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) estimates, a woman is shot to death by her intimate partner roughly every fourteen hours. Carlson, Bonnie.
“DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, FIREARMS, AND A FEDERAL REGISTRY: EQUIPPING VICTIMS TO ENFORCE LIFESAVING LEGISLATION.” The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, vol. 22, no. 1, 2022, pp. 78.
Gun homicides disproportionately harm Black women in the U.S., as they are two times more likely to be fatally shot by an intimate partner than white women are.
Everytown for Gun Safety, “Guns and Violence Against Women,” October 17, 2019.
59.1% of mass shootings between 2014 and 2019 were DV-related and in 68.2% of mass shootings, the perpetrator either killed at least one partner or family member or had a history of DV.
Geller, L.B., Booty, M. & Crifasi, C.K. The role of domestic violence in fatal mass shootings in the United States, 2014–2019. Inj. Epidemiol. 8, 38 (2021).
Therefore, advocating for women to be armed with guns blatantly ignores what researchers, survivors, and law enforcement know too well: access to a firearm is associated with an increased risk of intimate partner homicide, and disrupting that access reduces the likelihood of IPV becoming deadly.
April M. Zeoli et al., “Analysis of the Strength of Legal Firearms Restrictions for Perpetrators of Domestic Violence and Their Associations with Intimate Partner Homicide,” American Journal of Epidemiology 187, no. 11 (November 2018): 2365–71,
Leemis, Ruth W. et al. “The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey : 2016/2017 Report on Intimate Partner Violence”, 2022.
Link: The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey : 2016/2017 Report on Intimate Partner Violence and Guns and Violence Against Women: America’s Uniquely Lethal Intimate Partner Violence Problem | Everytown Research & Policy
Everytown Research analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), Average: 2020–2022.
Everytown Research analysis of FBI Supplemental Homicide Report (SHR) data from 2014–2023.
“DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, FIREARMS, AND A FEDERAL REGISTRY: EQUIPPING VICTIMS TO ENFORCE LIFESAVING LEGISLATION.” The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, vol. 22, no. 1, 2022, pp. 78.
Everytown for Gun Safety, “Guns and Violence Against Women,” October 17, 2019.
Geller, L.B., Booty, M. & Crifasi, C.K. The role of domestic violence in fatal mass shootings in the United States, 2014–2019. Inj. Epidemiol. 8, 38 (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-021-00330-0
April M. Zeoli et al., “Analysis of the Strength of Legal Firearms Restrictions for Perpetrators of Domestic Violence and Their Associations with Intimate Partner Homicide,” American Journal of Epidemiology 187, no. 11 (November 2018): 2365–71,