Firearms and protective orders in intimate partner homicides

Firearm ownership and storage among US college students: results from the healthy minds study, 2021-2022

The purpose of this study is to address a significant gap in knowledge on firearm ownership rates and storage characteristics in a national sample of college students. We used 2021-2022 survey data from the Healthy Minds Study, which included approximately 88,500 students at over 100 US colleges and universities. We conducted analyses using descriptive statistics and two-sample proportion tests. About 4% of respondents reported having a firearm on or around campus. Among firearm owners, 68.8% reported storing firearms at their permanent address within an hour's drive from campus, and 43.1% reported storing their firearms unloaded and locked. Firearm ownership rates were significantly higher for respondents who were positive for specific risk factors (i.e., in a relationship, suicide ideation, recent binge drinking, and having been physically assaulted) versus those who were negative. These findings support the need for targeted messaging and firearm safety training for college students to reduce firearm-related risks.

Threats, Violence, and Weapon Use Against Children in Domestic Violence Protection Orders

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Childhood exposure to domestic violence is common, but the overlap between threats and violence against children and weapon/firearm use has not been well studied. The objectives of this study were to: assess differences in respondent firearm access and the use of weapons in granted domestic violence protection orders (DVPOs) with and without minors (individuals <18 years of age); and characterize the frequency and characteristics of threats and acts of violence against minors.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study of a random sample of granted DVPOs from 2014-2020 in King County, Washington. We examined the use of threats, violence, and weapons by restrained individuals (ie, respondents) by reviewing and abstracting information from DVPO case files.

RESULTS

Respondent weapon use and firearm possession were more common among DVPOs including minors than DVPOs not including minors (weapon use: 38.2% and 33.0%; firearm possession: 23.1% and 19.1%, respectively). Almost 2 in 3 DVPOs including minors (1338 of 2029) involved threats or violence directed at a minor perpetrated by the DVPO respondent. About 1 in 3 (32.5%) DVPOs documented explicit threats, and 1 in 2 (48.9%) documented violence. Over two-thirds (680 of 993, 68.5%) of acts of violence directed at minors included a weapon.

CONCLUSIONS

We found higher lethality risk (weapon use and respondent firearm access/ownership) among DVPOs including minors. Many minors experienced threats and acts of violence involving weapons and firearms by DVPO respondents. Evidence-based safety planning strategies and training of judicial officers are needed.

Suicide-related behavior and firearm access among perpetrators of domestic violence subject to domestic violence protection orders

Perpetrators of domestic violence (DV) may be a population at elevated risk of suicide. Domestic violence protection orders (DVPOs) can include the removal of firearms from the individual subjected to the order (i.e., the respondent) to protect the victim-survivor. While removal of firearms in a DVPO is designed to protect the victim-survivor; it may also prevent suicide of the respondent by reducing access to lethal means. Therefore, we examined the association of respondent suicide-related behaviors with firearm possession and weapon use in DV among a sample of granted DVPO petitions in King County, Washington (WA), United States from 2014 to 2020 (n = 2,537). We compared prevalence ratios (PR) of respondent firearm possession and use of firearms or weapons to threaten or harm by suicide-related behavior. Overall, respondent suicide-related behavior was commonly reported by petitioners (46 %). Approximately 30 % of respondents possessed firearms. This was similar between respondents with and without a history of suicide-related behavior (PR: 1.03; 95 % CI: 0.91-1.17). Respondents with a history of suicide-related behavior were 1.33 times more likely to have used firearms or weapons to threaten/harm in DV compared to those without a history of suicide-related behavior (44.1 % vs. 33.8 %; 95 % CI: 1.20-1.47). In conclusion, both firearm possession and suicide-related behaviors were common among DVPO respondents. History of suicide-related behavior may be a marker for firearm-related harm to the victim-survivor. Evaluations of DVPO firearm dispossession should consider both firearm-related injury of the victim-survivor and suicide of the respondent.

Research utility and limitations of textual data in the National Violent Death Reporting System: a scoping review and recommendations

BACKGROUND

Many studies of injury deaths rely on mortality data that contain limited contextual information about decedents. The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) is unique among such data systems in that each observation includes both quantitative variables and qualitative texts (called "narratives") abstracted from original source documents. These narratives provide rich data regarding salient circumstances that can be used to inform prevention efforts. This review provides a comprehensive summary of peer-reviewed research using NVDRS narratives over the past 20 years, including the limitations of these texts and provides recommendations on utilizing and improving narrative quality for researchers and practitioners.

MAIN BODY

Studies that used narratives to examine deaths related to suicide, homicide, undetermined intent, accidental firearm, or legal intervention were identified by a title/abstract screening, followed by a full-text review. The search was conducted on English-language, peer-reviewed literature and government reports published from 2002 to 2022 in PubMed, PsycInfo, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Abstracted elements focused on the methodologies used to analyze the narratives, including approaches to explore potential biases in these texts. Articles were abstracted independently by two reviewers, with disagreements resolved through consensus discussion. During the 20-year period, 111 articles used narratives. Two-thirds studied suicide (n = 48, 43%) and homicides (n = 25, 23%). Most studies analyzed the narratives using manual review (n = 81, 73%) and keyword searches (n = 9, 8%), with only 6 (5%) using machine learning tools. Narratives were mainly used for case finding (n = 49, 44%) and characterization of circumstances around deaths (n = 38, 34%). Common challenges included variability in the narratives and lack of relevant circumstantial details for case characterization.

CONCLUSION

Although the use of narratives has increased over time, these efforts would be enhanced by detailed abstraction of circumstances with greater salience to injury research and prevention. Moreover, researchers and practitioners would benefit from guidance on integrating narratives with quantitative variables and standardized approaches to address variability in the completeness and length of narratives. Such efforts will increase the reliability of findings and set the stage for more widespread applications of data science methods to these texts.

Examining the Factors that Impact Suicide Following Heterosexual Intimate Partner Homicide: Social Context, Gender Dynamics, and Firearms

Despite a wealth of research on intimate partner homicide, research on intimate partner homicide followed by suicide of the perpetrator is sparse. Existing studies on intimate partner homicide-suicide: tend to be descriptive, not keeping pace with quantitative advances in the epidemiological and social sciences; have yet to examine how context impacts intimate partner homicide-suicide; and are typically limited to male perpetrators, given small localized samples of female-perpetrated intimate partner (homicide and) homicide-suicide. This study uses data on 7584 heterosexual intimate partner homicide and homicide-suicide cases distributed across 2465 places and 42 U.S. states from the National Violent Death Reporting System (2003-2018) to examine the victim and perpetrator characteristics, relationship dynamics, situational factors, and contextual features that influence the likelihood of committing suicide following intimate partner homicide. Hierarchical logistic regression models indicate that victim characteristics that increase the vulnerability to victimization (alcohol and drug use, mental health problems, less than some college education) decrease the odds of committing suicide following intimate partner homicide. Similarly, situational (victim weapon usage, additional perpetrators) and contextual (concentrated disadvantage, residential instability) risk factors decrease the odds of committing suicide following intimate partner homicide. Conversely, impairment of the perpetrator (alcohol use, mental health problems) and a more intimate victim-perpetrator relationship (spousal relationship, caregiver) increases the odds of homicide-suicide. Additionally, results indicate that firearms play an integral part in homicide-suicide as well as in decreasing the gender gap in homicide-suicide. The findings suggest that the internalization of guilt by perpetrators of intimate partner homicide may play a key role in subsequent suicide. Practically, limiting firearm exposure will not only reduce the lethality of intimate partner violence, but will decrease the odds of perpetrator suicide following intimate partner homicide. This is particularly true for female-perpetrated homicide-suicide, which is unlikely to occur without a firearm.

Examining Intimate Partner Violence-Related Fatalities: Past Lessons and Future Directions Using U.S. National Data

Purpose

Among homicides in the United States, intimate partners kill almost 50% of female and 10% of male victims. Intimate partner violence (IPV) also contributes to an estimated 6% of suicides. These trends suggest that opportunities for IPV interventions prior to the fatalities may have been missed. Thus, researchers must investigate the context and circumstances of IPV-related fatalities to inform effective prevention strategy development. There are two primary national fatality databases that can be used to examine such factors: the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS, homicide and suicides); and the Uniform Crime Reporting-Supplementary Homicide Reports (UCR-SHR, homicides). These datasets include data on many IPV-related violent deaths but are limited by variations in data quality.

Method

This critical review summarizes opportunities and challenges when examining IPV-related fatalities using these national datasets. To document how the current literature is conceptualizing IPV, a rapid review on IPV-related homicide and suicide articles was performed (2019-2022). Missingness analyses were conducted to describe limitations in key dataset variables.

Results

These datasets enable tracking IPV-related fatalities nationally over time. However, issues with the operationalization of variables that record IPV circumstances, particularly in the UCR-SHR, and high levels of missingness represent significant barriers to research. Novel methodologies can optimize the use of these datasets.

Conclusion

National-level datasets enable researchers to examine IPV-related fatalities, evaluate policy differences between states, and monitor trends and disparities. This research can inform key recommendations for interventions to prevent IPV-related fatalities.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10896-022-00487-2.

The "Boyfriend Loophole" and Intimate Partner Homicides: A Longitudinal Analysis Using the National Violent Death Reporting System

Intimate partner homicides (IPHs) often occur in the context of violent relationships, and firearms often facilitate lethal outcomes. Accordingly, policies have been implemented to reduce firearm access among individuals with histories of intimate partner violence (IPV) or violent propensities. There is considerable variation, however, in the enactment and implementation of such state-level firearm protection laws. Some states fail to extend IPV-related firearm related protections to dating partners, creating what has been referred to elsewhere as the "boyfriend loophole", or what will be referred to here as the "partner loophole". The goal of this analysis was to examine trends in National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) data to assess the relationship of IPHs among unmarried victims in association with state partner loopholes. State policies were abstracted to identify partner loopholes. A series of negative binomial generalized estimating equations were performed using lagged policy variables, year fixed-effects, robust standard errors, and errors clustered by state. Model findings suggest that increased firearm access is related to higher rates of unmarried IPH victimization, however, the associations between the presence of a partner loophole and IPH rates amongst unmarried victims varied between racial subgroups. Significant, protective relationships with closed partner loopholes were identified for the IPH rates amongst white unmarried victims, however, not amongst victims of color. The partner loophole policies considered here, and other individual IPV-related and/or firearm-related policies may be an important component of protections, however, our findings suggest they are not independently sufficient to equitably reduce the burden of IPH. Continuing to develop public health and policy evaluation literature will be essential to progressing towards a policy landscape and cultural environment that are equitably protective.

Saving Lives: Working across Agencies and Individuals to Reduce Intimate Homicide among those at Greatest Risk

This special issue of the Journal of Family Violence offers insights on intimate homicide prevention from leading researchers and practitioners. The insights offered are timely, given the pervasiveness of domestic violence (DV), including some data since the emergence of COVID-19 noting an increase in DV-related  cases with severe  injury and police calls. Contributors in this special issue argue for interagency advocacy, protection orders, and firearm removal, along with reimagining data capture, risk assessment, firearm protocols, and fatality reviews to improve equitable services and care for DV survivors at the highest risk of homicide.