To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate
Urge Congress to Protect Victims of Domestic Violence by Expanding the Background Check System
Jewish Women International
This October during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we recognize the intersection between gun violence and the epidemic of domestic violence and recommit ourselves to elevating and taking action on this issue. Domestic violence affects the lives of millions of women, children and families, with 1 in 4 American women experiencing severe physical violence by an intimate partner in the United States. We also recognize that there is a strong intersection between gun violence and domestic violence. Women in the United States are killed at alarming rates by intimate partners, and firearms play a key role in turning domestic abuse into murder. Yet in states with universal background checks on all handgun sales, 38% fewer women are killed with guns by their intimate partners.
This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we commit to working with national leaders to directly address these issues and honor the victims and survivors of domestic violence and their families. We call on our leaders in Congress to support meaningful gun safety legislation that will expand the background check system in order to save the lives of women, children and families and avoid needless tragedies.
Why is this important?
Domestic violence is an epidemic that affects women, children and families in communities across our nation. Firearms play a special role in increasing lethality rates in domestic violence incidents. More than half of women murdered with guns in the United States are killed by intimate partners; in 2010 alone, more female homicides were committed with firearms than with any other weapon. Additionally, the mere presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide for women by 500 percent. Yet domestic violence offenders who are federally prohibited from owning or accessing firearms routinely avoid the background check system by purchasing weapons through unlicensed private sellers at gun shows and online. This can have a devastating and lethal effect on victims of domestic abuse and Congress must directly address this issue. By requiring a background check for every gun sale, we can reduce violence against women and save innocent lives. In states that require universal background checks for every handgun sale, 38 percent fewer women are shot to death by intimate partners.