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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Katherine A. Vittes, MPH and Susan B. Sorenson, PhD. Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA School of Public Health, 650 C.E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, 310-825-7649, kavittes@ucla.edu

Background: Firearms are used to threaten and coerce intimate partners, and handguns are the primary weapons in intimate partner homicide. Federal law prohibits persons under domestic violence restraining orders from purchasing and possessing firearms; each year, about 5% of the denied applications to purchase firearms are rejected on the basis of a restraining order. Data on gun possession generally are not available. The purpose of this investigation is to examine the gun purchase behavior of persons under a domestic violence restraining order before the order is issued.

Methods: All persons under a domestic violence restraining order in California during May 2003 through September 2005 comprised the study population. Administrative records for these individuals were compared to the statewide data base of firearm dealers' sales records during the preceding six years. Comparisons by gender were made with the general population and across various types of restraining orders.

Results: During 1998-2004, 0.7% of all Californians and 1.9% of Californians who subsequently came under a restraining order applied to purchase a handgun. The pattern of elevated risk held across all types of domestic violence restraining orders. Men under an emergency protective order, a short-term order issued in circumstances of particularly high risk, were substantially more likely to have applied to legally purchase a handgun in the prior six years (RR=1.79).

Conclusion: Persons with a propensity toward violence against an intimate partner may be more likely to have a handgun. Full implementation of laws to keep guns out the hands of batterers is indicated.

Learning Objectives: