Haven staff participate in guns/DV panel

Women are five times more likely to be killed by their abuser if the abuser has a firearm, said Giffords Law Center Implementation Director Julia Weber at a sobering panel that we and partners did virtually on Oct. 19. 

The intersection of guns and domestic violence is common in Montana, one panelist noted, with almost 40 percent of active orders of protection involving the threat of or use of a firearm. 

Source: Disarm DV Coalition study, 2015.

Participants in the seminar — not only from Haven, but from our partners at Montana State University’s Women’s Center, the university’s VOICE Center, and Bozeman Police Department — noted that:

• Nearly three quarters — 72 percent — of the 200 Montana fatalities attributed to intimate-partner violence between 2000 and 2018 were killed by firearms.

Source: Montana Domestic Violence Fatality Review, 2019 Report to the Legislature.

• Federal law that prohibits domestic abusers from having guns covers spouses, common-law spouses, and partners who share a child — but doesn’t prohibit an abusive dating partner from having guns. This is known as the “boyfriend loophole.” The current version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) — which has passed the House of Representatives — addresses this. (There’s currently no version of VAWA in the Senate.)

• Montana received an F grade from Giffords, for a lack of universal background checks, and other gaps in state gun laws.

Montana’s gun culture is one of several challenges when it comes to addressing domestic violence in rural areas — others include the lack of public transportation, and the fact that survivors may both live and work on a farm or ranch.

Thanks to our partners and to the Giffords Law Center for putting on this seminar.