Handgun Ownership Boosts Risk of Repeat Violence by Domestic Abusers: Study

Handgun ownership increases the risk that individuals with a history of  intimate partner violence (IPV) will reoffend, according to a new study by the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program.

The study also found a smaller but still significant risk of committing any kind of violent crime among handgun owners charged with or convicted of IPV-related offenses.

Researchers said that despite the fact only a “minority” of  handgun owners in the study with a record of domestic violence went on to commit other violent  crimes—just under 19 percent—the findings suggested a “significant problem” if the figures were applied nationwide.

“Scaled to the population of the United States, violent crime perpetrated by those with a history of IPV may impact a substantial number of people,” said Liz Tomsich, a lead author of the study.

The study also revealed  flaws in state and federal regulations restricting firearm possession as well as in the background check process, Tomlisch said.

“A small number of (California) offenders who should have been banned from owning firearms were still able to obtain them,” she said in a statement accompanying the study.

“We found 27 of the 53 purchasers with prepurchase convictions entered [our] cohort despite active or lifetime prohibitions related to their offenses.

Federal law mandates a lifetime ban on purchase or possession of firearms by individuals convicted of domestic violence, but it is limited to violence against spouses and cohabitants. Violence against “dating partners” is not included.

And the ban does not apply to individuals who are charged but not convicted of an IPV offense.

The research findings are based on 13-year study of a cohort of  76,311 California purchasers of legal handguns, between 2001 and 2013.

Other research has shown that IPV is a major trigger for other violent offenses. Firearm access also increases the odds by a factor of five  that an incident of intimate partner violence will result in a fatality.

But the relationship between prior charges and convictions for IPV and the subsequent risk for violent criminal activity among legally authorized handgun purchasers in California has been “largely unexplored,” the study said.

“Our results indicate handgun purchasers with non-prohibiting IPV histories constitute a group at risk for violent re-offending, although firearm violence comprised a minority of the violence committed,” the study concluded.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 33 percent of women and 28 percent of men in the U. S. report physical violence by a current or former intimate partner. In addition, one in four women and almost one in seven men suffer severe physical intimate partner violence during their lifetimes.

Additional authors on this study included:  Julia Schleimer, Mona A. Wright, Susan L. Stewart, Garen J. Wintemute and Rose M. C. Kagawa―all from the UC Davis Violence Prevention Program.

The study, published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, can be purchased for download here.