July 20, 2014
Michael Bloomberg’s gun violence prevention group called “Every Town for Gun Safety” has completed a study on statistics concerning gun violence. The group found that the majority of mass gun violence deaths stem from domestic violence incidents.
Identifying 110 mass shootings, defined as shootings with four or more deaths caused by a firearm, the group found that 57 percent of those deaths were related to domestic or family violence. Specifically, the finding was that in at least 63 of the cases (57%), the shooter killed a current or former spouse, intimate partner, or other family member, and in at least 20 incidents the shooter had a prior domestic violence charge.
This serves as sobering evidence that gun safety laws need to be strengthened, as well as evidence of the extent and seriousness of domestic violence, contrary to general public understanding.
Statistics belie the common understanding of domestic violence issues as a lower level concern. Numerous recent studies have shown its prevalence and severity to be massive. It is also insidious and frequently passed down through the generations. In addition, victims of domestic violence tend to continue to subconsciously engage and re-engage in domestic violence relationships thereafter exposing their children to violence in their home environment.
It is dangerous. The following are some stark statistics about domestic violence as presented by Soraya Chemaly in the Huffington Post.
1. Number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq: 6,614
2. Number of women, in the same period, killed as the result of domestic violence in the US: 11,766
3. Number of people per minute who experience intimate partner violence in the U.S.: 24
4. Number of workplace violence incidents in the U.S. annually that are the result of current or past intimate partner assaults: 18,700
5. Number of women in the U.S. who report intimate partner violence: 1 in 4
6. Number of men in the U.S. who report intimate partner violence: 1 in 7*
7. Number of women who will experience partner violence worldwide: 1 in 3
8. Order of causes of death for European women ages 16-44: domestic violence, cancer, traffic accidents
9. Increase in likelihood that a woman will die a violent death if a gun in present in the home: 270 percent
10. Number of women killed by spouses who were shot by guns kept by men in the home in France and South Africa: 1 in 3
11. Percentage of the 900 million small arms that are kept in the home, worldwide: 75
12. Country in which 943 women were killed in honor killings in 2011: Pakistan
13. Percentages of people killed in the U.S. by an intimate partner: 30 percent of women, 5.3 percent of men.
14. Estimated number of children, worldwide, exposed to domestic violence everyday: 10,000,000
15. Worldwide, likelihood that a man who grew up in a household with domestic violence grows up to be an abuser: 3 to 4 times more likely than if he hadn’t.
16. Chance that a girl of high school age in the U.S. experiences violence in a dating relationship: 1 in 3
17. Percentage of teen rape and abuse victims who report their assailant as an intimate: 76
18. Percentage of U.S. cities citing domestic abuse as the primary cause of homelessness: 50
19. Percentage of homeless women reporting domestic abuse: 63
20. Percentage of homeless women with children reporting domestic abuse: 92
21. Percentage of women with disabilities who report violence: 40
22. Annual cost of domestic violence in the U.S. related to health care: $5.8 billion
23. Annual cost of domestic violence in the U.S. related to emergency care pluslegal costs, police work, lost productivity: 37 billion dollars
24. Annual number of jobs lost in the U.S. as a result of intimate partner violence: 32,000
25. Percentage change between 1980 and 2008 of women and men killed by intimate partners in the U.S.: (w) 43 percent to 45 percent; (m) 10 percent to 5 percent
26. Average cost of emergency care for domestic abuse related incidents for women and men according to the CDC: $948.00 for women, $387 for men
27. Increase in portrayals of violence against girls and women on network TV during a five year period ending in 2009: 120 percent
28. The number one cause of death for African American women ages 15-34 according to the American Bar Association: homicide at the hands of a partner
29. Ratio of women shot and killed by a husband or intimate partner compared to the total number of murders of men by strangers using any time of weapon, from 2002 homicide figures: 3X
30. Number of people who will be stalked in their lifetimes: 1 in 45 men and 1 in 12 women (broken out: 17 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women; 8.2 percent of white women, 6.5 pecent of African American women, and 4.5 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander women)
31. Percentage of stalkers identified as known to victims: 90.3
32. Percentage of abused women in the U.S. who report being strangled by a spouse in the past year: 33 to 47.3 (this abuse often leaves no physical signs)
33. According to one study, percentage of domestic abuse victims who are tried to leave after less severe violent and nonviolent instances of abuse: 66 versus less than 25
34. Average number of times an abuser hits his spouse before she makes a police report: 35
35. No. 1 and No. 2 causes of women’s deaths during pregnancy in the U.S.: Domestic homicide and suicide, often tied to abuse
36. Number of women killed by spouses who were shot by guns kept by men in the home in the United States: 2 in 3
37. Percentage of rape and sexual assault victims under the age of 18 who are raped by a family member: 34
38. Number of women killed everyday in the U.S. by a spouse: 3+