Firearm Legislation and Firearm Use in Female Intimate Partner Homicide Using National Violent Death Reporting System Data,2015–2019

Abstract

Firearms are responsible for increasing proportions and frequencies of U.S. homicides, accounting for over half of female deaths related to intimate partner violence (IPV). We analyzed National Violent Death Reporting System data to evaluate the impact of state-based firearm legislation targeted to IPV perpetrators and intimate partner homicide (IPH) from 2015 to 2019. Using Centers for Disease Controls (CDCs) Restricted Access Database system, we extracted yearly incidence data and calculated average, state-specific, age-adjusted rates for female IPH for 18 eligible states. We developed firearm-to-non-firearm (F:NF) rate ratios (RRs) and compared them across states categorized into two levels of domestic violence-specific firearm restrictions. Rates of NF IPH served as a crude control for characteristics of the state population that might favor violence behavior. Most “low” restriction states demonstrated greater F:NF RRs than “high” states. The average female firearm IPH rate was 0.33 per 100K for “high” restriction states and 0.98 per 100K for “low” restriction states. The average F:NF RR for low restriction states was 1.91 and for high restriction states was 0.85. The data show a trend of decreased IPH with stronger IPV-specific state firearm legislation, but with some variability in femicide rates within firearm restriction category, pointing to numerous additional factors bearing on the association, including varying implementation and enforcement of existing legal provisions, geographic location, and state household gun ownership. The present analysis confirms the dramatic contribution of firearm fatalities to female intimate partner-related deaths—frequently doubling or tripling the state's rate of non-firearm female IPH.