April Zeoli
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University
Key Findings
- When violent individuals have access to firearms, the risk of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), increases in severity and deadliness, although the increases in severity may also be attributed to extraneous variables.
- Policies that reduce firearm access to individuals with domestic violence restraining orders reduced IPV severity but only when enforced appropriately.
Description
In the article, “Risks and Targeted Interventions: Firearms and Intimate Partner Violence,” Zeoli and her co-authors examine the interventions and prevalence of the use of guns in intimate partner violence (IPV) situations. In 2013, nearly 50% of intimate partner homicides (IPH) were committed with firearms followed by 19% of IPH committed with knives. The researchers conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed articles surrounding the topic of IPV and use of firearms from 1990 to 2014, which totaled 12 studies. The results showed that when violent individuals have access to firearms, the risk of IPV increases in severity and deadliness, although the increases in severity might not be only caused by access to firearms. They also found that policies that reduce firearm access to individuals with domestic violence restraining orders against them reduced IPV severity but only when enforced appropriately. The authors concluded that future research should focus on the link between access to firearms, severity of IPV, and the specific policies that attempt to reduce IPV.