GUN LAWS

REQUIRING A BACKGROUND CHECK FOR EVERY GUN SALE WILL SAVE WOMEN’S LIVES.

...BUT EACH YEAR

ARE EXCHANGED IN PRIVATE TRANSFERS WITHOUT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS.8

MILLIONS OF GUNS-

IN STATES THAT REQUIRE A BACKGROUND CHECK FOR EVERY HANDGUN SALE, 47 PERCENT FEWER WOMEN ARE SHOT TO DEATH BY INTIMATE PARTNERS.9

57%52%of mass shootings involve domestic

violence

AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

WWW.EVERYTOWNRESEARCH.ORG

WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES ARE 16 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE KILLED WITH GUNS THAN THEY ARE IN ANY OTHER DEVELOPED NATION.1 THIS VIOLENCE IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO OUR WEAK GUN LAWS AND REQUIRING A BACKGROUND CHECK FOR EVERY GUN SALE WILL REDUCE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND SAVE LIVES.

WOMEN IN THE U.S. ARE 16 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE KILLED WITH GUNS THAN WOMEN IN OTHER HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES.2 Women in the US are killed at alarming rates and firearms play a key role in turning domestic abuse into murder. Between 1990 and 2005, more intimate partner homicides in the US were commit-ted with guns than with all other weapons combined.3

WHEN A GUN IS PRESENT IN A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SITUATION, THE WOMAN IS FIVE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE MURDERED.People with a history of commit-ting domestic violence are more likely to subsequently kill an intimate partner, and firearms significantly increase the risk of homicide for women.4

A MAJORITY OF MASS SHOOTINGS INVOLVE INCIDENTS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.An Everytown for Gun Safety analysis of every identifiable mass shooting between 2009 and 2015 found that in 76 of those 133 incidents (57%), the shooter killed a current or former intimate partner or other family member. In at least 21 of those shootings, the perpetrator had a prior domestic violence charge.5 That’s why federal law prohibits certain domestic abusers from buying guns.

of women killed in the U.S. with guns between 2010-2014, were killed by intimate partners or family members.6

When it works properly, the background check system keeps guns out of abusers’ hands. Since its inception in 1998, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System has blocked 2.5 million attempted gun sales to prohibited purchasers, including more than 300,000 gun sales to domestic abusers.7

Dangerous domestic abusers can easily avoid background checks and buy guns by buying from unlicensed, private sellers—who often sell at gun shows or through anonymous online transactions—and are not required by federal law to conduct background checks on potential buyers.

1. D. Hemenway and E.G. Richardson, “Homicide, Suicide, and Unintentional Firearm Fatality: Comparing the United States with Other High-Income Countries, 2003,” 70 Journal of Trauma 238-42 (2011), available at doi: 10.1097/TA.0b013e3181dbaddf.

2. Professor April M. Zeoli, Letter to the Hon. Patrick J. Leahy & Charles Grassley, January 28, 2013.

3. J.C. Campbell, D.W. Webster, J. Koziol-McLain, et al., “Risk factors for femicide within physically abusive intimate relationships: results from a multi-site case control study,” 93 Amer. J. of Public Health 1089-1097 (2003).

4. Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Felon Seeks Firearm (2013), available at:

5. Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Supplementary Homicide Report,” 2011.

6. “Analysis of Recent Mass Shootings,” Mayors Against Illegal Guns, July 2014, available at: http://everytown.org/article/analysis-of-mass-shootings/

7. Everytown for Gun Safety, Guns and Violence Against Women, available at http://everytown.org/article/guns-and-violence-against-women/

8. In states that have not fully closed the private sale loophole, private handgun sales are conducted without background checks. 9,856,984 back-ground checks were conducted for licensed gun sales between December 2011 and December 2012 in the 38 states that had at that time not closed the loophole. Assuming that this number represents 60 percent of the total gun sales in those states, and private transfers represent the other 40 percent, we estimate private transfers numbered 6.6 million over that 12-month period.

9. Everytown for Gun Safety, “State background check requirements and rates of domestic violence suicide,” available at: http://every.tw/1Aj9HZj.

Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund seeks to improve our understanding of the causes of gun violence and the means to reduce it – by conducting groundbreaking original research, developing evidence-based policies, and communicating this knowledge to the American public.

Every day, 88 Americans are killed with guns. The gun murder rate in the U.S. is 20 times higher than that of other developed countries, but research shows that common-sense public safety laws can reduce gun violence and save lives.

Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund is an independent, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to understanding and reducing gun violence in America.

1. Grinshteyn, E., & Hemenway, D. (2016). Violent death rates: the US compared with other high-income OECD countries, 2010. The American journal of medicine, 129(3), 266-273.

2. Grinshteyn, E., & Hemenway, D. (2016). Violent death rates: the US compared with other high-income OECD countries, 2010. The American journal of medicine, 129(3), 266-273.

3. Fox, J. A., & Zawitz, M. W. (2007). Homicide trends in the United States: Bureau of Justice Statistics. NCJ, 173956.

4. Campbell, J. C., et. al. (2003). Risk factors for femicide in abusive relationships: Results from a multisite case control study. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 1089–1097. doi:10.2105/AJPH.93.7.1089.

5. U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Supplementary Homicide Report, 2010-2014; Florida Department of Law Enforce-ment 2010-2013.

6. Everytown for Gun Safety (2015). Analysis of Recent Mass Shootings, available at: http://everytown.org/article/analysis-of-mass-shootings/

7. U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, NICS Denials: Reasons Why the NICS Section Denies, Nov. 1, 1998 – Dec. 31, 2014, at http://1.usa.gov/1k9zURj; U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Feb. 2013, Background Checks for Firearms Transfers, 2010–Statistical Tables, Feb. 2013, at http://1.usa.gov/Z8vYsa; U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Dec. 2014, Background Checks for Firearms Transfers, 2012–Statisti-cal Tables, Dec. 2014; U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 2016, Background Checks for Firearms Transfers, 2013-14–Statis-tical Tables, June 2016.

8. Masters, K., Just How Many People Get Guns Without a Background Check? Fast-Tracked Research Is Set to Provide an Answer, The Trace, October 21, 2015.

9. http://everytownresearch.org/background-checks-reduce-gun-violence-and-save-lives/