The role of firearms in intimate partner violence: policy and research considerations
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The role of firearms in intimate partner violence: policy and research considerations Alexandria Goodyear1 · Michael Rodriguez1,2 · Deborah Glik1
© Springer Nature Limited 2019
Abstract Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major threat to women’s safety and well-being worldwide. Firearms heighten this threat by increasing the morbidity and mortality of IPV. This paper focuses on the United States, a nation with high rates of IPV alongside high rates of gun ownership. The United States has implemented several policy approaches to reduce the harmful role that firearms play in IPV by limiting access to firearms for IPV offenders. One such law prohibits persons under Domestic Violence Restraining Orders (DVROs) from purchasing or possessing firearms or ammunition. Although DVRO firearm prohibitions can reduce the risk of firearmrelated injury and homicide associated with IPV, implementation and enforcement of these laws at regional and local levels is challenging and variable. We discuss implications for DVRO research, policy, and practice as part of a comprehensive approach to prevent and reduce firearm-related IPV. Keywords Firearms · Intimate partner violence · Homicide · Policy Intimate partner violence (IPV), defined as physical, sexual, or psychological harm by a current or former intimate partner or spouse, is an important public health problem affecting nearly one in three adult women worldwide [1, 2]. Across the globe, IPV threatens women’s safety and well-being substantially and is associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes, including injury, pre-term births, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and depression [3–5]. IPV also increases mortality risk, as current or former intimate partners commit more than a third of all female homicides worldwide [6]. Even in countries where overall rates of homicide are decreasing, intimate partner homicide remains prevalent [7]. * Deborah Glik [email protected] 1
Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, 650 South Charles E Young Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90095‑1772, USA
2
Department of Family Medicine, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Over the past several decades, research has firmly established the role that firearms play in IPV. IPV outcomes have greater morbidity and mortality when violent intimates have access to firearms [8]. In countries with high rates of firearm ownership, firearms are the main mechanism of harm in IPV [9]. Data from 25 countries indicate that female homicide victimization is associated with firearm ownership at the national level. The United States (U.S.) accounts for only 32% of the female population in these countries, but for 84% of all female firearm homicides [10]. With nearly one in four adult women experiencing IPV in the U.S. and over 40% of U.S. adults living in a gun-owning household, the nexus of IPV and firearms is extremely dangerous, making the U.S. an important country for studying this link and
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