Guest view: Closing the boyfriend loophole will save lives, make Montanans safer

This guest column co-authored by Haven Executive Director Erica Aytes Coyle and Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence Executive Director Kelsen Young appeared in the Missoulian, the Montana Standard (Butte), and the Helena Independent Record on June 19. It also appeared in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on June 24.

For decades, domestic violence survivors and all of us who support them have faced a dangerous, illogical gap in our country’s gun laws: A person who has abused their spouse or ex-spouse and is convicted of domestic violence can’t buy guns. A person who’s abused or caused harm to their live-in partner, or to the mother of their children, and is convicted of domestic violence can’t buy guns, but a person who abuses or causes harm to their dating partner or former dating partner and is convicted of domestic violence? They can buy guns.

This gap in our laws, known as the “boyfriend loophole,” has cost too many lives for too many years. About half of intimate-partner homicides are committed by dating partners, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and firearms are used more than any other weapon.

That’s why we and our organizations — who work every day to protect domestic violence survivors in both the policy arena and on the ground — fully support the bipartisan announcement last weekend that an upcoming Senate bill addressing national gun violence would finally close the boyfriend loophole.

Closing the boyfriend loophole and keeping firearms away from these convicted offenders will increase safety for both domestic violence survivors and for our communities as a whole, for two reasons:

First, there’s massive overlap between offenders involved in domestic violence and those who commit the mass shootings this Senate bill is trying to address. More than half of all mass shootings in the United States (54%) stem from domestic violence. Keeping firearms away from all people with domestic violence convictions, not just spouses, is a welcome first step towards keeping our communities safer.

Second, closing the loophole will save lives. The 32 states that already prevent dating abusers from possessing firearms have a 10 percent lower rate of intimate-partner homicide, according to the American Journal of Epidemiology. Montana is one of those states. We’re on the right track here. Closing the loophole nationally means that Montanans will be safer from abusers crossing state lines.

Closing the boyfriend loophole is a narrow, discrete, common-sense change that doesn’t touch law-abiding gun owners in Montana or anywhere else. It’s not a new law; it expands an existing law to apply to all domestic abusers. And it requires a court decision; it doesn’t violate due process or restrict access to guns based on an accusation.

In Montana, local groups like Haven (and our partners in law enforcement, health care, and emergency services) are on the front lines of dangerous domestic violence situations. We help survivors make a plan to keep themselves and their families as safe as possible. We answer their calls, day and night. Thanks to community support, we provide services that give survivors more options than staying with a dangerous abuser. Now it’s time for lawmakers to do what we can’t do: Keep guns out of the hands of convicted abusers.

We applaud Republican and Democratic senators for agreeing to close the boyfriend loophole, and we urge our Montana senators to support this bill when it comes to the Senate floor. Domestic violence survivors, and our communities, deserve this long-overdue step towards safety.