This October during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we at Jewish Women International (JWI) are focusing on a topic that impacts the safety and security of victims of domestic violence and their families: gun violence. JWI first became dedicated to addressing domestic violence when one of our own members was killed by her estranged husband with a gun in her place of employment in 1988. This shocking murder spurred our organization to embark on a decades-long campaign to break the silence about domestic abuse in the Jewish community- and gun violence prevention has always is essential to this work.
As Congress continues to grapple with gun safety legislation, we believe that the often lethal intersection between gun violence and violence against women needs to be at the forefront of the debate. The facts speak for themselves. The mere presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of lethality for women by 500 percent- and in states that require a background check for every handgun purchase, 38 percent fewer women are killed by their intimate partners.
Under current law, domestic violence offenders are prohibited from purchasing firearms. But by skirting the background check system, domestic abusers can access firearms through private sales, online and at gun shows. In 2012 alone, it was estimated that 6.6 million guns were exchanged in private transfers without a criminal background check. This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we are asking Congress to stand up for victims of domestic violence by expanding the background check system to include gun purchases made online and at gun shows. We hope you will join us in this important effort by signing our petition to Congress. Want to learn more? Check out our fact sheet on guns and violence against women.
Miri Cypers is the Senior Policy & Advocacy Specialist at Jewish Women International.
