Our new investigation found gun laws often aren’t enforced. Intimate partners pay the price.

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** New Investigation: When Abusers Keep Their Guns
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Illustration by Molly Mendoza

Since the beginning of the pandemic, killings linked to domestic violence have risen dramatically, up 58% in the last decade. Guns are the most common weapon abusers use to kill their partners.

Under federal law, felons and many people convicted of domestic violence are prohibited from having firearms. But our - investigation found that those laws often aren’t enforced and intimate partners pay the price. Reporter Jennifer Gollan found that from 2017 to 2020, at least 110 intimate partners and others in 21 states surveyed were killed by offenders with guns they never should have had.

This week’s Reveal episode ([link removed]) tells the story of how local officials, including police and prosecutors, had the opportunity to take away guns from people with a history of domestic violence and the disastrous consequences of that failure.

There’s more to come on this story, too. We’ll be launching a documentary with Al Jazeera’s “Fault Lines” on Oct. 20. And we’ll be publishing a series of long-form stories soon as well.

As the stories roll out, I talked with Jen about her reporting.

How did you get started reporting this story?

I got started on this project after talking with a criminologist. She told me that there was no easily accessible, comprehensive data on domestic violence homicides. That got me thinking about whether we could create a data set ourselves by requesting data from each state and putting it together. The more research I did, I realized that nobody had looked at the number of people dying at the hands of intimate partners who are prohibited from having guns under state or federal law. So I set out to do that. I put together a comprehensive list of domestic violence homicide cases in 21 states and ran criminal background checks on the perpetrators in those cases to identify who was not allowed to have a gun. What was shocking is that there are a lot of cases in which people who should not have guns have gone on to kill their partners. We have broad federal laws that prohibit convicted felons and many people with domestic violence misdemeanors from having firearms, but there's very little
enforcement. What we're left with is something called the “honor system,” in which we trust offenders who should not have guns to give them up. This honor system is an open secret.

This feels like such a glaring and dangerous failure, to have a law on the books that no one is enforcing. Why isn’t this enforced? Is it because domestic violence is not a priority?

People had various explanations. No. 1 is that it's very easy to get a gun, even if you're a convicted felon in this country. We don’t have a universal background check system. If you go to a gun store, they run a background check on you. But that's not the case if you get a gun through a private transfer. We have one of the highest gun ownership rates per capita of any developed nation. And some experts say that there's a gender bias at play. The result is the cases that we've found in places like Alabama, Florida and Arizona, mostly women are being killed by people who shouldn't have guns. The other startling thing we found is that the federal government does not track the number of people killed by intimate partners who are prohibited from having firearms. I think what we've found with our data is that keeping track of that is crucial.

What do you hope people take away from this story?

I hope our investigation puts a spotlight on the gaps in enforcement that have led to the deaths of people who have been killed by offenders who should not have guns. There are places around the country that are starting to require people to prove that they've turned in their guns. In Washington’s King County, communities are trying to do something on a local level. There are also bills that are pending – the federal No Guns for Abusers Act ([link removed]) would basically provide a model for how the government could have abusers turn in their guns.

These cases are treated as mostly breaking news stories that are singular examples of shocking atrocities. But when you actually consider these cases together, it shows that we have a public health crisis on our hands. It’s important to look at the underlying pattern. The pattern is that a lot of these perpetrators are not allowed to have guns, and there are very few mechanisms in place to make sure those guns are taken away.

Listen to the episode: When Abusers Keep Their Guns ([link removed])

Have a personal story to share? Help us investigate domestic violence shootings by sharing your story ([link removed]) .

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** A Sneak Peek of Our New Investigative Series: Mississippi Goddam
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Illustration by Joan Wong

Ten years ago, Reveal host Al Letson learned about a Black high school football star in Mississippi who died in a traffic stop with a White police officer. The story has haunted him ever since. For the last three years, he’s been investigating what happened.

Sometimes, one story can tell you everything about race and justice in America. With a title inspired by Nina Simone’s civil rights anthem, our new series, Mississippi Goddam: The Ballad of Billey Joe, is that story.

The seven-part series premieres Saturday. Don't miss it. Subscribe to Reveal in the podcast app of your choice ([link removed]) .

Listen to a preview of MIssissippi Goddam on Reveal’s Instagram ([link removed]) .

This newsletter was written by Sarah Mirk. Drop her a line (mailto:[email protected]?subject=weekly%20reveal%20feedback) with feedback and ideas.

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