The Supreme Court rejecting a step backward was indeed a relief. But it is not nearly enough. We need meaningful solutions.
The country breathed a collective sigh of relief on Friday when the U.S. Supreme Court averted catastrophe with its ruling in United States v. Rahimi. The decision allows the government to continue denying firearms to people who are the subjects of domestic violence protective orders. The carnage caused by an adverse ruling in Rahimi would have been tragic.
But make no mistake: The victory in Rahimi was not a step forward. It only maintains the status quo, which is grim. Right now in the U.S., 70 women, on average, are shot and killed by a partner each month. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children and teens ages one through 19. Domestic violence-related homicides have increased, and one reason is that we have more guns than people.
The intersection of guns and domestic violence takes an especially terrible toll on Black and American Indian/Alaska Native women.
Domestic violence does not just harm an abuser’s immediate family. More than two-thirds of mass shootings (where four or more people are killed) involve some connection to domestic violence or are committed by shooters with a history of domestic violence. In nearly half of these cases (46 percent), the perpetrator shot an intimate partner or family member.
So, SCOTUS rejecting a step backward was indeed a relief. But it is not nearly enough. We need meaningful solutions.
Now that the Supreme Court has agreed it is lawful to disarm people who pose a credible threat to others, we must help courts and communities to ensure that guns are surrendered and measures are in place to determine if it is safe to return them when a protective order ends. Right now, few states and jurisdictions require abusers to provide proof they relinquished their firearms, but most do not. Similarly, some individual judges demand proof but most do not. We need to educate both lawmakers and judges about the need to improve relinquishment procedures, ensure compliance and take action when perpetrators fail to hand over their guns.
Second, we need to aggressively and effectively counter the false, deceptive gun industry claim that someone facing domestic violence can protect themselves with a gun. In fact, most often, the opposite is true. Having a firearm in the home increases—by an astonishing 500 percent—the likelihood that a woman facing domestic violence will be killed by a male partner. We need to stop the gun industry from perpetrating this dangerous, sometimes deadly myth.
We need to aggressively and effectively counter the false, deceptive gun industry claim that someone facing domestic violence can protect themselves with a gun. In fact, most often, the opposite is true.
Third, we need Congress to take this issue more seriously. That means fully closing the so-called boyfriend (or dating partner) loophole that the recently-passed Bipartisan Safer Communities Act only started to address, so we finally deny access to firearms to dating partners who have restraining orders against them and to convicted stalkers. It means banning assault weapons to stop the mass casualties, trauma and violence they can cause. It means making greater federal investments in helping children and youth exposed to violence and trauma recover and heal. And it means providing federal support for the evidence-based strategies that prevent community gun violence, providing support to high-risk individuals and offering resources to deter future criminal behavior.
The ruling in Rahimi was indeed a relief, but it will not stop gun violence from making domestic violence more deadly and causing harm in our homes, schools, streets and gathering places. We can and must do more.
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