To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate
Keep Firearms Out Of the Hands Of Domestic Violence Perpetrators
National Domestic Violence Hotline
The correlation between mass shootings and domestic violence is increasingly evident. The shooter in the Sutherland Springs, Texas church tragedy reportedly had a history of domestic violence including brutally assaulting his former wife and infant stepson and then abusing his wife two years later.
Abused women are five times more likely to be killed if their abuser owns a firearm, and domestic violence assaults involving a gun are 12 times more likely to end in death than assaults with other weapons or physical harm. Domestic violence offenders commit more than a million acts of domestic violence each year, resulting in hundreds of deaths of spouses, partners, and even children.
Call your representatives and senators. Tell them: We want the loopholes in existing gun laws so that no perpetrator of domestic violence gets access to firearms. We want elected officials to support any and every bill that strengthens background checks.
Abused women are five times more likely to be killed if their abuser owns a firearm, and domestic violence assaults involving a gun are 12 times more likely to end in death than assaults with other weapons or physical harm. Domestic violence offenders commit more than a million acts of domestic violence each year, resulting in hundreds of deaths of spouses, partners, and even children.
Call your representatives and senators. Tell them: We want the loopholes in existing gun laws so that no perpetrator of domestic violence gets access to firearms. We want elected officials to support any and every bill that strengthens background checks.
Why is this important?
Access to firearms is the single most common predictor of a woman being murdered by a current or former partner, regardless of employment status, education level or relationship status.
It's increasingly evident is the flaw in our nation's background check system. When records prohibiting domestic abusers from gun possession are excluded, dangerous individuals, like the shooter in Sutherland Springs, Texas, are able to pass a background check, obtain guns, and do harm to our communities. Our laws must keep deadly weapons out of domestic abusers' hands.
As advocates for victims of domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline knows far too intimately how dangerous firearms are at the hands of an abusive partner – whether the abuse is physical, emotional, verbal, digital and/or financial. We can all agree that such dangerous individuals should not be permitted access to firearms, and prevention of future tragedies cannot be accomplished without demanding that our elected leaders take action.
Congress must ensure law enforcement officers have access to the information they need to identify dangerous individuals. And we demand that current federal gun laws are expanded so that the prohibited purchaser category includes current and former dating partners because the threat of harm is just as dangerous coming from a dating partner as it is coming from a married one.
It's increasingly evident is the flaw in our nation's background check system. When records prohibiting domestic abusers from gun possession are excluded, dangerous individuals, like the shooter in Sutherland Springs, Texas, are able to pass a background check, obtain guns, and do harm to our communities. Our laws must keep deadly weapons out of domestic abusers' hands.
As advocates for victims of domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline knows far too intimately how dangerous firearms are at the hands of an abusive partner – whether the abuse is physical, emotional, verbal, digital and/or financial. We can all agree that such dangerous individuals should not be permitted access to firearms, and prevention of future tragedies cannot be accomplished without demanding that our elected leaders take action.
Congress must ensure law enforcement officers have access to the information they need to identify dangerous individuals. And we demand that current federal gun laws are expanded so that the prohibited purchaser category includes current and former dating partners because the threat of harm is just as dangerous coming from a dating partner as it is coming from a married one.