Although the gun lobby likes to profess that guns are a good means of self-defense, in fact, guns put women at risk. Domestic violence is the leading cause of homicide among women. Consider these facts:
- Women are most often killed by current or former intimate partners.
- More than 12 times as many women were killed by a male acquaintance than were killed by a male stranger.
- Approximately two thirds of intimate partner homicides in the United States are committed using guns.
- Having a gun in the home makes a woman 7.2 times more likely to be the victim of a domestic homicide.
- Women suffer disproportionately highler levels of firearm-related suicide, homicide and unintentional death in states where guns are more available.
- In 1998, for every time a woman used a handgun to kill an intimate acquaintance in self-defense, 83 women were murdered by an intimate acquaintance with a handgun.
- Nearly 20% of workplace homicides are due to domestic violence "spillover."