Domestic Violence and Firearms: A Deadly Combination
Mar 01, 2011
Examine the law related to firearms and domestic abuse and learn strategies for prosecuting firearms offenses related to the offender’s history of domestic violence.
Resource type
Strategies Newsletters
Author(s)
John Wilkinson (Attorney Advisor, AEquitas); Toolsi Gowin Meisner
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Nearly two-thirds of all women killed by firearms are killed by an intimate partner. Firearms are the most frequently used weapons in intimate partner homicide, eclipsing all other weapons combined. This article discusses the fundamentals of prosecuting the possession of firearms by prohibited persons generally, while focusing on issues involved in prosecuting domestic violence related firearms charges specifically, from both a state and federal perspective. The authors also examine the impact of the most recent U.S. Supreme Court firearms decisions on prosecuting domestic violence firearms charges.