Batterers and gun bans

Landmark laws passed in the 1990s aimed at keeping guns from abusers have fallen short of their mark, say law enforcement personnel and advocates. Latest story in Women’s Enews “Dangerous Trends, Innovative Responses” series. . . .

Fourteen years after the Violence Against Women Act was passed in 1994 . . . .achieving a national vision of disarming domestic-violence offenders has proven elusive in most parts of the country.

“It seems like a great idea, to take guns away from batterers,” says Merril Cousin, executive director of the King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence in Seattle. “It’s more complicated than it sounds, because it depends on finding out that a firearm is involved, it often requires a court order, and then you have to get the order enforced.”

Guns are used to kill most victims of intimate partner homicides, though the proportion has been falling, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.