Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Shannon Frattaroli, PhD, MPH and Jon S. Vernick, JD, MPH. Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, 5th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410 955-8022, SFrattar@jhsph.edu

Firearms play an important role in lethal domestic violence incidents, and are used to intimidate and injure abuse victims. In an effort to reduce the risks associated with firearms in violent intimate relationships, some states have enacted laws to separate batterers from guns. In particular, policies that vest law enforcement with the authority to remove guns when responding to a domestic violence incident or empower courts to order alleged batterers to surrender their firearms through civil protective orders actively engage the criminal justice system in the process of removing firearms from individuals who are violent at home.

We reviewed and analyzed state laws in an effort to understand these two policies and provide policy makers and advocates with an overview of the content of existing laws. As of April 2004, 18 states had police gun removal laws; 16 states had court-ordered removal laws. Ten states had both laws while 26 had neither. We discuss relevant characteristics of the laws, and based on our analyses, recommend that court-ordered removal and police gun removal laws incorporate the following:

• Mandatory provisions that limit police or court discretion and, therefore, facilitate consistent implementation. • Removal authority that is not be limited to guns actually involved in the domestic violence incident. Any gun in the batterer's possession has the potential to harm his partner. • Including ammunition within the removal authority. • Clear procedures for the mechanism, immediacy, and duration of the gun removal, and funding to train law enforcement.

Learning Objectives:

• Assess state level policies designed to separate batterers and guns and discuss the differences that exist among these policies.
• Describe how policy makers and advocates can influence the implementation of policies designed to separate batterers and guns.
• Articulate the association between policy implementation and policy evaluation as it relates to domestic violence and gun policies.

Keywords: Domestic Violence, Firearms

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation