Americans for Responsible Solutions and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Outline Laws States Can Pass to Protect Women From Gun Violence
October 6, 2014 – Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS), the gun violence prevention organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, retired combat veteran and NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence released a new report today outlining the steps state legislators can take to protect women and families in abusive situations from gun violence.
Released as the country marks Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the new resource, ” Commonsense Solutions: State Laws to Address the Lethal Intersection Between Gun Violence and Violence Against Women, ” is the latest publication in the Commonsense Gun Laws Partnership, a project of ARS and the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. It offers a series of proposals that state legislators around the country can adopt to address the loopholes in current federal law intended to prevent domestic abusers from accessing guns. The policy recommendations, many of which have been proposed at the federal level but not enacted, include:
- Ensuring that anyone who has been convicted of violence against a dating partner cannot purchase or own guns. While current federal law prohibits gun possession by any abuser who has been convicted of domestic violence or who is subject to a domestic violence protective order, states can ensure that these laws also apply to people who abuse their dating partners.
- Closing the ‘stalker gap.’ Current federal gun law does not generally apply to stalkers; while people convicted of felony stalking are prohibited from buying or owning guns, people convicted of misdemeanor stalking are not. By prohibiting the purchase or possession of guns by anyone convicted of misdemeanor stalking and/or subject to a protective order against stalking, leaders at the state level could close this loophole.
- Ensuring that individuals subject to temporary restraining orders can’t access guns. Temporary restraining orders cover the short period before a full court hearing. Current federal law only prohibits gun possession by abusers subject to full protective orders.
- Providing the National Instant Criminal Background Check System with the necessary information to identify all people prohibited from possessing firearms because of domestic or similar violence under federal and state law. By providing these records, states can ensure that these people cannot pass a background check and purchase a gun.
Click here to view the full toolkit.
Under current law, gun violence and domestic violence are often a lethal mix in the United States, and access to guns plays a central role. Women in the U.S. are 11 times likely to be murdered with a gun than women in peer countries, and more than half of all murders of women are committed with a gun. Abused women are five times more likely to be killed by their abuser if the abuser has access to a firearm. Domestic violence assaults involving a gun are 12 times more likely to result in death than those involving other weapons or bodily force.
”Our current laws just don’t do enough to protect women and their families from gun violence, and the rate of women murdered by guns makes our country stand out in the worst of ways. With federal laws that are full of loopholes, state legislators around the country are asking what they can do to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and stalkers,” said Americans for Responsible Solutions 501(c)(4) Director Peter Ambler. ”We hope that leaders at the state level can seize the opportunity to help protect women and their families from gun violence.”
”This toolkit will be an invaluable resource for lawmakers seeking to better protect women from gun violence,” said Robyn Thomas, Executive Director of the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. ”Through our comprehensive review of existing state laws and concrete, commonsense policy suggestions, we provide legislators with the information they need to enact serious change on this issue. Our partnership with Americans for Responsible Solutions provides us with a powerful opportunity to lead the way in the fight for smarter gun laws.”
Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS) was founded by Congresswoman Giffords and Captain Kelly in January 2013 in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting to find sensible ways to reduce gun violence and encourage elected officials to enact responsible firearms policies that protect the Second Amendment. The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly known as the Legal Community Against Violence) was founded after the 1993 shooting in San Francisco that left eight dead. Today, it is the only national law center focused on providing comprehensive legal expertise in support of gun violence prevention and the promotion of smart gun laws that save lives. As a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, the Law Center is dedicated to preventing the loss of lives caused by gun violence by providing trusted, in-depth legal expertise and information on America’s gun laws.
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