The Guns and America series is special to Kingdom in the Midst. It is offered in hopes to raise the level of dialogue in the gun debate, to help people start talking to each other rather than past each other. Parts 1-4 are “Guest Posts.” Read Part 1 of the Guns and America series: The Second Amendment, statistics, and human nature. Read Part 2 of the Guns and America series: Tougher gun laws will not nullify the Second Amendment. Read Part 4 of Guns and America series: The right to bear arms shall not be infringed.
I encourage you to share these posts on your social media channels to further the discussion.
Terror has a very specific sound.
It is jagged breathing over long silences. It is crying while gasping for air. It’s often much quieter than you’d expect. When people try to explain what is happening, you can hear their brain taking in bits and pieces of information and trying to make sense of what is happening. They speak in broken phrases and they beg me to hurry, to help them.
I know the sound of terror because I have worked as a 9-1-1 dispatcher for the past 12 years.
Each day I answer calls and on a normal day I take 5-10 calls dealing with people in a domestic violence incident. These calls only make the news once someone dies, but I assure you that those who survive are living in the traumatizing stress that accompanies terror.
Once we get the address and phone number, we always ask, “Does anyone there have a weapon?” My agency is in Texas and the answer is often “yes.”
A report from the CDC estimates that 20 people per minute are abused by an intimate partner in the US. So in one year, that is roughly 10 million women and men. In incidents of intimate partner violence, 19% of the events involve a weapon. Pair this information with a 2003 article published in the American Journal of Public Health that states that, “the presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500%.”
So melding all of those stats together we can estimate that roughly 1.9 million people are in domestic violence situations each year where they are 500% more likely to die.
Now I know you’re thinking: that’s terrible but the nation is fixed on mass shootings right now, not domestic violence. Well, in the 57% of mass shootings between January 2009 and June 2014 the perpetrator killed an intimate partner or family member. From beneath my headset, at this desk I can tell you these issues are not separate.
Federal and state agencies understand the risk that guns pose in these situations so there are laws on the books to keep firearms out of the hands of the most dangerous domestic violence offenders.
When these laws are fully enforced, lives are saved. In the past 16 years, the background check system has kept hundreds of thousands of guns out of abusers’ hands and prevented crimes. In states where background checks are required for all gun sales, there are 38% fewer women shot to death by their partners.
But inconsistent and lax enforcement along with loopholes allow too many guns to remain in the hands of abusers. I’ve been answering emergency calls for the past 12 years, so allow me to champion the ideas of some of the best minds in the country on this issue.
Researchers with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Everytown Researchers advise the following changes:
- Change federal law to keep guns out of the hands of abusive dating partners and stalkers. The current gun laws on the books don’t apply to those convicted of misdemeanor stalking offenses or dating partners. When combing through the data on mass shootings, 25% of the shooters that targeted an intimate partner had never married them or had a child together, so under the law they do not qualify as an “intimate partner.”
- All states need to prohibit all people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence crimes and all people subject to restraining orders from buying or using guns. There are federal laws that cover some of this ground, but if state law doesn’t then local law enforcement and prosecutors do not have the resources to fully enforce the restrictions.
- Require background checks for all gun purchases. Abusers who are prohibited from background checks skirt the law by seeking out unlicensed dealers at gun shows or online. An investigation by Mayors Against Illegal Guns discovered that 1 in 4 prohibited purchasers seeking guns online had a previous domestic violence arrest.
- Currently, 41 out of 50 states do not require all prohibited domestic abusers to surrender guns they already own. The law should be clear and processes must be in place so that courts and local law enforcement can follow through adequately.
When people speak of reasonable gun control, this is what they mean. Full and complete enforcement of the laws we have, coupled with oversight, can make the difference in protecting so many lives.
Would these suggestions have helped prevent the recent school shooting in Florida? I don’t know.
But when Conner Deitrich, 17, a junior at the school was asked about Nikolas Cruz he said, “The reason he got expelled was because he was fighting with his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. He stalked her and threatened her. He was like ‘I’m going to kill you,’ and he would say awful things to her and harass her to point I would walk her to the bus just to make sure she was OK. We all made sure she was never alone.”
Had that young woman been confident in the system to report her abuse, and had the processes been in place to confiscate his guns and stop him from buying more, then perhaps seventeen people wouldn’t have died.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447915
https://everytownresearch.org/guns-domestic-violence/
https://ncadv.org/statistics
Keysha Hogan has a heart for public service, and enjoys explaining the whys and hows of 9-1-1 service. When not at work she enjoys testing the limits of her library card, and finding new shows to binge watch. Her opinions are her own.
