Shooting His Partner, Then Himself: How Firearm Access Fuels Domestic Violence Tragedies

By Jasmine Mithani

The 19th

Roughly 19 women are killed pinch a firearm successful home unit homicide-suicides each month, according to a new study released Thursday from Everytown for Gun Safety shared exclusively pinch The 19th. 

“When we look astatine nan nationalist sermon connected weapon unit aliases connected weapon unit prevention, it tends to situation very nationalist wide shootings,” said Sonali Rajan, elder head of investigation astatine nan weapon unit prevention nonprofit that advocates for weapon control. The type of unit covered successful nan caller study is simply a “conflation of 2 nationalist wellness and nationalist information crises” — friendly partner unit and suicide. 

Ninety-nine percent of incidents successful nan report, which looks astatine information from 2014 to 2020, progressive a man shooting a woman. Men dress up 87 percent of suicides by firearm successful nan United States. 

“Firearms make it 5 times much apt that an abuser will termination their female partner,” Rajan said. Access to a weapon besides increases nan likelihood of decease by termination because of impulsivity and nan lethality of firearms.

Doreen Dodgen-Magee holds photos of her family who each mislaid their lives to friendly partner weapon violence. Credit: Doreen Dodgen-Magee

Nearly 5,500 women were killed by an friendly partner crossed 7 years of data, according to Everytown. In a 3rd of those instances, nan abuser past killed themselves and 85 percent of those dual tragedies progressive a firearm. The fig is apt underrepresented owed to uneven state-by-state information collection. It besides doesn’t see women who were injured by their partner’s firearm, aliases threatened pinch one. 

Crucially, this type of lethal unit is preventable. Policy study showed that states pinch beardown weapon power laws had 3 times less incidents of home unit homicide-suicide versus states pinch nan weakest ineligible codes. 

“The lethality and accessibility of firearms springiness abusers successful suicidal situation nan expertise to overpower and harm aggregate group pinch small chance for involution aliases survival,” according to nan report. 

When an abuser shoots their partner, past kills themself, nan trauma ripples done a community. Everytown gathered a attraction group of 43 survivors of this type of unit past year, and participants reported that children were witnesses successful 43 percent of domestic-violence homicide suicides. 

One instrumentality Everytown points to that tin thief forestall specified crimes is an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO), which confiscates firearms from personification deemed to beryllium an contiguous threat to themselves aliases others. 

A study of Oregon’s ERPO rule recovered specified orders were most often issued against personification astatine consequence of termination — important because 1 successful 4 members of Everytown’s attraction group said perpetrators of friendly partner homicide-suicide had a history of suicidal behaviors. 

“Research very intelligibly shows that laws that are intended to disarm abusers activity and they’re really, really captious to nan information of survivors,” Rajan said. A insubstantial from 2018 recovered states that forestall subjects of home unit restraining orders from owning a weapon had a permanent simplification successful friendly partner homicides. Extreme consequence orders person been shown to consequence successful less suicides.

Doreen Dodgen-Magee was among nan group who testified successful support of creating Oregon’s law. Thirty years ago, she held a statement connected nan eve of her niece’s first time of kindergarten. Family and loved ones filled Sarah’s backpack pinch emotion notes and good wishes. The adjacent day, Dodgen-Magee sewage a telephone telephone saying Sarah’s begetter had changeable and killed Sarah, her younger siblings, Rachel and April, and their mother, Laura, successful a fresh of suspicious rage. He besides changeable Dodgen-Magee’s mother-in-law, Margaret, who survived but needed a caretaker for nan remainder of her life. 

Dodgen-Magee believes an ERPO could person helped prevention Laura and her children. 

“It’s not conscionable having those laws successful place, but past doing nan really difficult activity of making judge that everyone successful nan organization knows astir them,” she said. 

ERPOs didn’t yet beryllium successful Oregon successful 1995. Dodgen-Magee and her hubby had helped Laura admit nan signs of an abusive narration and supported her erstwhile she revenge for divorce. Laura’s ex had a history of violence; aft she moved retired to unrecorded pinch her mom, he collapsed into their location and raped her. Laura revenge for a restraining order, but it didn’t forestall her death. 

After nan shooting, Dodgen-Magee recovered journals wherever Laura wrote down her fears of her ex sidesplitting her. She wrote that if thing happened to her, Dodgen-Magee and her hubby should get custody of her children. But Laura’s ex was capable to get a weapon and termination them all. 

Today, Dodgen-Magee is simply a scientist and teaches continuing acquisition units for different practitioners. In each training, she has participants look up ERPO laws successful their authorities and prevention nan due hotline to their phone. The laws don’t do immoderate bully if nan group equipped to thief aren’t alert of them, aliases nan women who are successful threat don’t cognize astir their existence. 

There isn’t a time that goes by without Dodgen-Magee reflecting connected her mislaid family members and really nan calamity has shaped her life. 

“I consciousness much compelled than I do called to this work. I consciousness for illustration I must,” she said. “I must make nan world understand that these were 4 beautiful, beautiful, important group successful nan world who should still beryllium here, and could still beryllium present if we could travel together astir making judge that group who shouldn’t ain firearms aliases person entree to them don’t.”

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