Firearms and violence against women. An American problem exacerbated by bad Republican choices

Sometimes, violence against intimate partners results in ‌murder‌. Some batterers murder their wives or female partners. Most of the perpetrators use guns. In 2017, a gun struck 926 of the 1,527 women killed by their partners (61%) (Laura M. Holson, April 12, 2019, Murders by Intimate Partners Are on the Rise, Study Finds – The New York Times,). An intimate partner in the United States shoots and kills an average of 70 women monthly (Everytown analysis of CDC, National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), 2019).

The Brady Campaign PAC estimates that a current, or former partner, shoots dead at least one woman every 16 hours (www.bradyunited.org). 

During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, America’s enemy killed 5,364 U.S. soldiers between October 7, 2001, and January 28, 2015; between 2001 and 2012, intimate partners murdered 6,410 women in the United States with guns  (Arkadi Gerney & Chelsea Parsons, June 2014, “Women under the Gun: How Gun Violence Affects Women and 4 Policy Solutions to Better Protect Them,’”  www.americanprogress.org/… ).

Having a gun in the home could cause injury or death to everyone living there, but the danger is significant for abused women. It turns out that victimized women are five times more likely to be murdered when their abuser has a gun (“Domestic Violence and Firearms,” efsgv.org/…). Suppose a gun is present during a domestic dispute. In that case, a woman’s risk of being murdered increases by 500 percent (Mayors Against Illegal Guns, “The Connection between Domestic Violence and Weak Gun Laws,” ncdv.org, February 22, 2013).

There is also a greater risk of multiple fatalities when guns are available and used (“Domestic Violence and Fire Arms,”  efsgv.org/…). Homicide victims often include intimate partners, co-workers, friends, new dating partners, innocent bystanders, police officers, children, and family members.

Domestic violence accounts for 57 percent of mass shootings (Mayors Against Illegal Guns, “The Connection between Domestic Violence and Weak Gun Law” ncdv.org, February 22, 2013). According to reports, the 2011 mass shooting at a Seal Beach, CA, hair salon resulted from the shooter’s custody battle with his ex-wife, who worked at the salon at the time (Ibid). 

Firearm-related domestic violence affects American women disproportionately. In a 2003 study of 23 high-income countries, 86% of women killed by firearms were Americans. American women are 11.4 times more likely to be killed by a gun than women in other high-income countries (D. Hemingway and E.G., Richardson, “Homicide, Suicide, and Unintentional Firearms Fatality: Comparing the United States with Other High-Income Countries, 2003,” Journal of Trauma, 2011).

A more recent study (2015) found similar results. Ninety-two percent of all women killed with guns in high-income countries in 2015 were American (Grinshteyn E, Hemenway D. Violent death rates in the U.S. compared to those of the other high-income countries, 2015. Preventive Medicine. 2019;123:20-26. Calculated based on all gun deaths among women, including suicides).

The likelihood that women die from firearm homicide in the U.S. is 28 times higher than in ‌similar countries (Everytown analysis of the most recent year of gun deaths by country (2015 to 2019), GunPolicy.org (accessed January 7, 2022). This outcome is driven mainly‌ ‌by‌ ‌IPV.

A current or former intimate partner perpetrates nearly half of all female firearm homicides. In terms of gun violence, the United States is the nation most dangerous for women among countries with high incomes.

Even abusers who do not use a firearm often rely on the availability of a gun to terrify and coerce their victims, causing immense psychological injuries (Sorenson SB & Shut R.A., 2018). Gun-involved intimate partner violence can cause more symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder than intimate partner violence that does not involve guns.

“With a nationally representative survey suggesting that 3.4% of victims of domestic violence have experienced non-fatal gun use by their abusers-combined with high numbers of intimate partner murders committed with guns-this constitutes a large public health threat,”

April Zeoli stressed in her article, Will closing the ‘boyfriend loophole’ in gun legislation save lives? Here’s what the research says, published by The Conversation on June 23, 2022.

President Biden and the Democrats are well-cognizant of the deadly combination of domestic violence and guns, and constantly strive to enact stricter gun control laws. The Safer Communities Act (June 25, 2022) which closed the boyfriend loophole was a major achievement of their part, but a lot more needs to be done.  

Currently, the United States is home to approximately 400 million firearms. There are more firearms in the United States than people. Gun availability distinguishes the United States from other industrialized countries, where gun accessibility is difficult, and murders by firearms are low or nonexistent.

Republican lawmakers ‌oppose‌ ‌strict‌ ‌gun‌ ‌laws, which violate Second Amendment rights, they allege. They also fear that supporting gun control legislation will ‌diminish their re-election prospects. Very vocal, anti-gun control voters make up the base of the Republican Party. In addition, they do not want to lose the financial support of the National Rifle Association.

Newsweek (May, 26, 2022) published a Full List of Republican Senators Who Receive Funding From the NRA. It included the following senators:

Mitt Romney: $13,648,000

Richard Burr: $6,987,000

Roy Blunt: $4,556,000

Thom Tillis: $4,421,000

Marco Rubio: $3,303,000

Joni Ernst: $3,125,000

Josh Hawley: $1,392,000

Mitch McConnell: $1,267,000

Ted Cruz: $176,000

Although all polls show that the overwhelming of the American public support “commonsense gun safety” laws, Bernie Sanders (2018, p.145) charged,

“Congress is not listening to the American people on this issue. They are listening to the very well-funded NRA, an organization with enormous political power.”

The National Rifle Association lobbied aggressively against attempts to close the “boyfriend loophole” during reauthorization debates in 1996 and 2018.

Despite studies refuting their claim, Republicans insist people must have firearms to protect themselves. Owning or carrying a gun does not provide security—the likelihood of someone getting killed increases when he or she owns a gun. In addition, a gun owner has a 500% greater chance of committing suicide.

Democrats argue that Second Amendment Rights are not absolute. They also accuse Republicans of putting their political aspirations over women/public safety.

But what is more? Gun Violence Disproportionately and Overwhelmingly Hurts Communities of Color, including women.

Black women are twice as likely as white women to be fatally shot by an intimate partner.

American Indian and Alaska Native women are killed by intimate partners at a rate of 4.3 per 100,000, compared with 1.5 per 100,000 for white women.

Guns are used in more than half of all homicides of women and disproportionately used against Black women.

Even when firearms are not used to kill or injure, they are used to threaten women at alarming rates:

         4.5 million women alive today have reported being threatened with a firearm.

Recently, Lee Zeldin, the Republican New York State gubernatorial nominee, appeared distressed because there was a shooting in front of his house in Long Island and blamed the New York State bail laws for the incident and rising violence. Zeldin did not say, however, what he and his Republican Party are doing to prevent firearms from coming to New York and going into the hands of street criminals and domestic violence abusers. Most guns come to New York from southern Republican states with lax firearms laws. Nor did he explain why he did not vote for the Safer Communities Act (June 25, 2022) and instead opposed it.

New York GOP Congressman Lee Zeldin, one of 3 House members did not vote on the anti-gun violence bill, submitted a statement in the Congressional Record stating he would have vote No against it if he was present

Zeldin’s support for the New York State Riffle and Pistol Association and the  Supreme Court’s decision to strike down  New York’s Concealed Carry Law is also disturbing. 

And what about his vote against banning assault weapons?

“Once again, Lee Zeldin has proven that he would rather cower to the gun lobby than protect New Yorkers from gun violence,”

stated NYS Democratic Party Chairman Jay S. Jacobs.

“Countless tragedies, including Buffalo and Uvalde, have been carried out using these military-style assault weapons, and Lee Zeldin’s extreme pro-NRA agenda will continue to put more lives in danger.”

Lee Zeldin voted against the Assault Weapon Ban of 2022, the Active Shooter Alert Act of 2022, the Protecting Our Kids Act (June 8, 2022), several gun background check acts, and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021.

To be sure, we cannot assess the role of guns in violent crime in isolation from other factors that affect the likelihood of violence, such as inequality, the extent of social exclusion, and the corrosion of family and community support (Elliot Currie, 2016). Flooding with deadly weapons communities decimated by these inauspicious social conditions, is like fueling the fire. Sadly, most Republican members of Congress do not see things in this light. Besides opposing gun regulation, they also oppose social services and policies, including public spending for job creation, income support, health care, and child care policies that can help ease the severity and extent of domestic and street violence.