Progress on gun control has been glacially slow, and on the federal level nonexistent. Even so, it’s worth noting and celebrating laws enacted in four states this year to deal with one of the grimmest aspects of the nation’s firearms carnage — the murders of about 50 women each month, shot to death by current or former intimate partners. Many had been the victims of repeated domestic abuse. Some had obtained court protection orders that proved no defense against the fury of an abuser who came armed.
The urgency for preventive action is obvious. Research shows the presence of a gun in a situation of domestic abuse makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed.
While Congress ducks this life-and-death issue, laws that could disarm domestic abusers before they can kill have been enacted in New Jersey, North Dakota, Tennessee and Utah. Those states join 19 others that have shown a bipartisan resolve to keep guns from domestic abusers.
