Domestic Violence and Gaps in Federal Law
Jasmine Gaytan was killed when she was only 20 years old. Her boyfriend fired the bullets and carried her to the hospital covered in blood. He later plead guilty to second-degree murder. At the time of the incident, they had been together over eight years [1].
Unfortunately, Jasmine’s story is just one out of too many. According to reports, 4.5 million women have had their intimate partner threaten them with a gun and 1 million women have been shot by their partner [2].
It is crucial to recognize the strong relationship between gun violence and domestic abuse. Domestic assaults involving a gun are 12 times more likely to result in death [3]. Statistics are clear: domestic abusers who possess guns pose a much greater threat to the household. In the developed world, the United States is by far the most dangerous country for women who are victims of domestic violence [4].
Legal Loopholes
In 1996, U.S. Congress passed the Lautenberg Amendment which amends the Federal Gun Control Act of 1968 by banning individuals convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence to own a gun.
However, the law only placed restrictions on current or former spouses and parents or guardians even though individuals killed by a dating partner make up almost half of partner homicides — in short, this federal law does not apply to dating partners [5]. Gun ownership of abusers in non-cohabiting relationships is not restricted and current law leaves their partners vulnerable. Activists call this the “boyfriend loophole” [6].
Moreover, federal laws in place do not apply to any other family member other than the spouse or children. They fail to address violence against siblings, parents, or any abused relatives. It is important to bring attention to this issue since the percentage of family homicides that involve a murder of a parent has been steadily increasing from 9.7% of all family homicides in 1980 to 13% in 2008 [10].
On the other hand, current federal law places no restrictions on convicted stalkers and other individuals with protective orders. All states made stalking a crime but specific definitions and elements of these laws vary. There are significant numbers of individuals convicted of misdemeanor-level stalking crimes each year who remain free to buy and possess firearms. For example, between 2003 and 2012, 3,105 individuals were convicted of stalking in Georgia alone. However, only nine out of all 50 states prevent those with misdemeanor stalking convictions from owning guns. Georgia is not one of them [3].
Another loophole is ensuring that prohibited abusers surrender their firearms. According to research published on intimate partner violence-related firearm laws and homicide rates, federal laws need to go beyond prohibiting firearm possession by abusers to sufficiently decrease homicide rates. The failure to disarm domestic abusers leads to horrible consequences. In Washington DC, at least five women were shot and killed by their partners less than a month after obtaining protection orders. Abusers continue to threaten, manipulate and harm their victims or continue to commit other crimes with a previously owned gun [3].
Weak Spots of Implementation
In addition to the gaps in federal law, there are certain factors that continue to weaken implementation of existing laws. First, not all states report all prohibited abusers. Most states fail to enter persons with domestic violence protective orders into the database. As a result, background checks do not properly prevent them from obtaining guns [3].
Next, federal background check laws further weaken the system by not requiring background check to be performed by private gun sellers. In October 2012 in Wisconsin, Radcliffe Haughton opened fire, killing his wife and two other women. Haughton was prohibited from gun possession but he was able to purchase a gun from a private seller on the Internet. Another devastating event took place in Illinois. Dmitry Smirnov shot and killed his former girlfriend in a parking lot after stalking her for a week. Smirnov was prohibited from buying a gun but was able to purchase a gun through a private transaction with an individual who was not required to conduct a background check [3]. While one in seven-gun buyers stopped by a federal background check is a domestic abuser, this loophole unintentionally creates room for domestic abusers to illegally obtain firearms through private sales. 19 states go further to require checks on all handgun sales, but in all other states victims of domestic violence still live in fear of getting shot [8].
Call to Action
Since the Lautenberg Amendment, Congress worked on passing a number of bills on gun control. Just counting the ones after the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, more than 100 proposals have failed. 24 out of the 100 had made it to the floor, but facing opposition from NRI, none passed into law. Proposed bills included improving background checks, introducing universal background checks, penalizing political appointees at federal agencies if they fail to report abuse to the database, and aimed to close loopholes [11]. Contact legislators and lawmakers in your community and urge them to enact protection laws to save more lives.
If you want to do take part in overcoming this loopholes further, become a part of Everytown for Gun Safety and IANSA. You can support by attending events, donating, and raising awareness in your community around the issue.
Everytown has been advocating for a legislative agenda that includes more background checks for potential gun owners, laws that would keep guns away from domestic abusers, and better gun-trafficking laws. [13]
The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) is a global movement against gun violence. It has a Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC at the United Nations and is the current official UN coordinator of civil society participation in UN meetings on small arms. To learn more on how to disarm domestic violence, visit their website https://www.iansa.org/ and get involved.
Join the #GunFreeValentine campaign to alert women and educate the public to be aware of the increased risks when there is a gun at home. To learn more, visit: https://mailchi.mp/iansa/gun-free-valentine-campaign. [9]
References
[1] Barbara Ferry | Searchlight New Mexico. “Horror of Domestic Gun Violence Shreds New Mexico Family.” Santa Fe New Mexican. January 29, 2019. http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/horror-of-domestic-gun-violence-shreds-new-mexico-family/article_7fb6922b-3436-57b4-84d7-c1f7a88f7d9e.html.
[2] Sorenson, Susan B., and Rebecca A. Schut. “Nonfatal Gun Use in Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review of the Literature.” Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 19, no. 4 (October 2018): 431–42. doi:10.1177/1524838016668589.
[3] “Women Under the Gun” Center for American Progress. June, 2014. Accessed February 07, 2019. https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GunsDomesticViolence2.pdf .
[4] Omojola, Funto. “Why the U.S. Is One of the Most Dangerous Countries for Women.” MarketWatch. June 29, 2018. Accessed February 07, 2019. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-the-us-is-one-of-the-most-dangerous-countries-for-women-2018-06-29.
[5] “1117. Restrictions on the Possession of Firearms by Individuals Convicted of a Misdemeanor Crime of Domestic Violence.” The United States Department of Justice. September 19, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/jm/criminal-resource-manual-1117-restrictions-possession-firearms-individuals-convicted.
[6] Solis, Marie. “Gun-Related Domestic Violence Calls Increased 74 Percent, New Report Finds.” Broadly. June 22, 2018. Accessed February 07, 2019. https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/59q8p8/guns-domestic-violence-report-2017.
[8] “Private Gun Sale Laws by State.” Findlaw. Accessed February 07, 2019. https://consumer.findlaw.com/consumer-transactions/private-gun-sale-laws-by-state.html.
[10] https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf
[11] Busch, Monica. “24 Gun Control Laws That Have Failed Since Sandy Hook.” Bustle. December 17, 2018. Accessed February 15, 2019. https://www.bustle.com/p/24-gun-control-laws-that-have-failed-since-sandy-hook-7589491.
[12] “Why More than 100 Gun Control Proposals in Congress since 2011 Have Failed.” CBS News. Accessed February 15, 2019. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-many-gun-control-proposals-have-been-offered-since-2011/.
[13] “Take Action to End Gun Violence.” Everytown for Gun Safety. Accessed February 15, 2019. https://everytown.org/act/.
