This week, President Trump dismissed domestic violence as “a little fight with the wife,” suggesting such offenses should not count in crime statistics. This dangerous minimization ignores the reality faced by millions of Americans, and the deadly role guns play in intimate partner violence.
Here are the facts:
- Nearly half of all women murdered in the U.S. are killed by a current or former intimate partner, and more than half of those murders involve a firearm.
- From 2014–2019, 68% of mass shootings involved domestic violence, either with family/intimate partner victims or shooters with a known history of abuse.
- In 91% of intimate partner homicides, police had prior contact with victims about domestic violence. These tragedies are often predictable … and preventable.
- Research shows a 23% reduction in intimate partner homicides when people convicted of violent misdemeanors (not only domestic violence–related) are prohibited from accessing firearms.
Domestic violence is not a private matter. It is a public health crisis and a leading driver of gun violence in America. Dismissing it as insignificant puts lives at risk.
That is why Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence is fighting for the Family and Law Enforcement Protection Act. This legislation will strengthen Maryland’s Domestic Violence Protective Order process, ensuring that when a court determines someone poses a credible risk to their partner, they are required to surrender their firearms … and law enforcement has clear authority to enforce that order.
Every survivor deserves to be protected. Every abuser with access to a gun is a potential tragedy waiting to happen. With your support, we will keep pressing for stronger laws that disarm abusers and save lives.
[Read more here → NYT article]
[Learn more: Guns & Domestic Violence → a Johns Hopkins resource]