Everytown Releases New Report on Ensuring the Effective Implementation of Laws that Disarm Domestic Abusers, Following Life-Saving SCOTUS Rahimi Ruling

Report Implores Local Stakeholders to Take Necessary Steps to Ensure Prohibited Domestic Abusers Both Relinquish Firearms and Are Unable to Purchase New Guns

NEW YORK – One week following the Supreme Court’s life-saving decision in United States v. Rahimi, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund released a new report outlining the ways in which states can effectively implement laws intended to disarm domestic abusers, including by ensuring firearm relinquishment at the time they become prohibited, as well as preventing future gun purchases.

Federal law, as upheld by the Supreme Court last week, prohibits abusers under domestic violence restraining orders or who have been convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence from possessing or purchasing firearms. Many states have passed analogous laws, empowering state and local officials to enforce prohibitions against these individuals. However, these laws do not implement themselves and the failure to properly enforce them can have devastating consequences for survivors of domestic violence. Everytown’s report offers practical guidance for state and local leaders on effective ways to implement and enforce these laws, based on examples of what has worked well in jurisdictions across the country

“Laws that prohibit domestic abusers from having access to firearms are crucial to protecting survivors and the broader community from future gun violence. But to ensure these laws have a meaningful impact, state courts, local law enforcement, and other community stakeholders must make a dedicated effort to put policies and protocol in place to make sure that abusers actually turn over any guns in their possession once they become prohibited and are unable to purchase new guns.” said Chelsea Parsons, Director of Implementation at Everytown for Gun Safety.

“I know from my own experience and work with other survivors of gun-related domestic violence that for many, seeking support from the legal system isn’t an easy process. It is often a time of fear and risk as survivors hold their breath and await the protections that they rightfully deserve. That’s why it’s so important that, once an abuser is prohibited from having firearms, the laws removing those guns from their hands are effectively and immediately implemented. While the Supreme Court reached the right conclusion last week, we cannot let our foot off the gas in the fight to protect women and families from gun violence,” said Niadu Allen, a Moms Demand Action volunteer and Fellow with the Everytown Survivor Network from St. Louis, Missouri. In 2002, Niadu’s sister, Anonda Allen, was shot and killed at 29 years old. In 2021, Niadu’s only daughter, Johnesia, who was also only 29-years-old, was shot and killed by her boyfriend who then shot and killed himself.

The Everytown report details several elements key to the successful implementation of any law intended to prohibit domestic abusers from gun possession, including training about the law and coordination among all relevant stakeholders, with a particular focus on law enforcement, judges, court staff, and probation/parole officials. The full report can be found here.

Domestic violence and gun violence are inextricably linked. Every month in America, an average of 70 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner, and the presence of a gun makes a woman five times more likely to die at the hands of her abuser. Women of color particularly bear the brunt of America’s domestic violence crisis. Black, Indigenous and Hispanic women are victims of homicide at the highest rates, and more often than not, it’s at the hand of an abusive partner.

Research also shows an outsized connection between mass shootings and domestic violence perpetrators. In nearly half of mass shootings with four or more people killed in America, the perpetrator shot an intimate partner or family member as a part of their rampage.

The decision the Supreme Court reversed in Rahimi, issued in February 2023 by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, would have struck down the longstanding federal law that prohibits domestic abusers subject to protective orders from possessing guns. The Fifth Circuit’s radical and dangerous ruling came in the wake of a misguided decision from the United States Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which struck down a core provision of New York’s concealed carry law that had been on the books for more than 100 years and changed the rules on how courts determine whether gun safety laws are constitutional to give a central role to early American history. The Bruen decision unleashed chaos in the courts, setting the stage for challenges to even the most foundational gun safety laws, and leading courts across the country to issue wildly divergent decisions on multiple core issues. In Rahimi, by a vote of 8 to 1, the Supreme Court made clear that the Fifth Circuit had misunderstood and misapplied Bruen.

Currently, thirty-two states and Washington, DC have laws prohibiting domestic abusers under restraining orders from possessing firearms, with 22 of these states and Washington, DC affirmatively requiring prohibited abusers to turn in guns they already possess. A separate set of 32 states and Washington, DC have laws barring firearm possession by individuals convicted of domestic violence crimes, with 17 of these states explicitly requiring relinquishment upon prohibition. 

For more information or to speak to an expert for assistance in developing an implementation plan for laws that disarm abusers in your jurisdiction, reach out to the Everytown Implementation Center. 

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233), available 24/7, for confidential assistance from a trained advocate, or text START to 88788 from anywhere in the U.S.