Title: Risk Factors for Violent Death of Women in the Home
Publication Date: July 1997
What does it say?
This is a case control study that looks at the association between domestic violence, keeping firearms in the home and the risk of homicide or suicide. It found that: “Instead of conferring protection, keeping a gun in the home is associated with increased risk of both suicide and homicide for women.”
Domestic violence was linked to both suicide and homicide. Depression, substance abuse, alcohol and keeping a gun in the home were all risk factors for the death of women in the home. The murder of women related to domestic violence and keeping a gun was most often carried out by a spouse, intimate partner, or close relative: “Only 3% of female victims who were killed in their own home were known to have been killed by strangers. Eighty-two percent were killed by someone they knew.”
The association found between domestic violence, keeping a gun in the home and homicide is consistent with several previous studies.
The study concludes that: “health care providers, public health departments, and law enforcement agencies should encourage family members to store firearms securely or remove them from households that have problems with domestic violence, substance abuse, or depression.”
How can I use it?
Guns need to be kept out of the hands of those considered to be a danger to women through enforcing existing law that bans those convicted of domestic violence crimes and those subject to court restraining orders from possessing firearms. In addition more needs to be done to reduce the ready availability of guns in homes where issues of domestic violence, substance abuse and depression may increase the risk of female homicide at the hands of intimate partners. Enforcing existing common sense gun laws and universal background checks can help to keep women safer and save lives.
Citation
Bailey, James et al., “Risk Factors for Violent Death of Women in the Home,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 157(7) (1997): 777-782
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