New Everytown Report Finds Intimate Partner Homicide-Suicide with a Gun Claims the Lives of 19 Women Each Month 

States With Weakest Gun Safety Laws Had Three Times the Rate of Intimate Partner Homicide-Suicide Than States With Strongest Gun Safety Laws

October Marks Domestic Violence Awareness Month, an Annual Observance to Raise Awareness, Educate the Public, and Elevate Resources to Survivors of Domestic Violence

NEW YORK – In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund released a new report which found that intimate partner homicide-suicide (IPHS) with a gun claims the lives of 19 women on average each month. IPHS is defined as any tragedy where a current or former intimate partner kills their partner, children, or others and then attempts or dies by suicide. These incidents make up nearly one in five of all gun homicides of women, and 99% of perpetrators are men. 

To understand the frequency with which these tragedies occur and how we can better prevent them, Everytown acquired and examined data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) on all recorded intimate partner homicide-suicides of women by their male partners from 2014 to 2020 in the United States. The resulting report covers the prevalence of IPHS nationally, the unique role of the accessibility of firearms, risk factors for IPHS, the impact on survivors and their families, and survivors’ experiences in accessing support services.

“Intimate partner homicide-suicide persists as a devastating domestic violence and public safety crisis, with guns often taking center-stage in these dual tragedies – their presence making it far more likely that an abuser will kill their female partner,” said Sonali Rajan, senior director of research at Everytown for Gun Safety. “When states with the weakest gun laws see three times the rate of intimate partner homicide-suicide compared with states with strongest gun laws, it makes clear that it’s up to lawmakers to act. Families across the nation deserve better.”

“Intimate partner violence is not a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, it’s the reality of stories like mine: abusers gaining easy access to firearms, and loved ones being shot and killed — sometimes, in the front yard of their grandmother’s home like my nieces and sister-in-law were,” said Doreen Dodgen-Magee, a Moms Demand Action volunteer and Senior Fellow with the Everytown Survivor Network. “Across the nation, access to firearms, coupled with societal systems that aren’t built to protect women, allow this public health crisis to flourish. What breaks my heart the most is knowing that mine is just one experience out of many – and we have to do something about it.”

Key findings from the report include:

• Over 5,450 women were killed by an intimate partner from 2014 to 2020. In one in three of these instances, the perpetrator then died by suicide themself. 

• A firearm was the primary weapon used in 85 percent of all studied IPHS incidents, killing nearly 1,600 women, or an average of 19 women each month. 

• Firearms make it five times more likely that an abuser will kill their female partner.

• In states with the weakest gun safety laws, the IPHS rate was three times higher than in states with the strongest gun safety laws.

• Black women saw rates of IPHS with a firearm that were 19 percent higher than white women. The rate of IPHS with a firearm was also 9 percent higher for American Indian/Alaska Native women than white women.

• Women ages 45 and older were more likely to die by IPHS in comparison to intimate partner homicide (IPH) without suicide. This risk increases over a woman’s lifetime: women aged 75 and older died by homicide at rates nearly four times higher than IPH without suicides in the same age group.
  • Caregiving represents a unique stressor and potential contributing factor for violence, particularly for elderly men who care for a partner with chronic illnesses.

• Nearly one in 10 incidents of IPHS also involved the murder of the family’s children. And nearly all perpetrators of IPHS were men (99 percent) who killed their former or current intimate partners. 

To uplift and document the circumstances and effects of these incidents, Everytown’s research team also conducted focus groups with 43 survivors of IPHS in 2024. The report outlines how victims, survivors, and perpetrators of IPHS were navigating layers of risk and protective factors leading up to these tragedies, as well as recommendations for action that can create opportunities for intervention and prevention. Per the report, there are 11 common risk factors associated with IPHS, collectively identified by survivors and family members, including access to a firearm, suicidal behaviors, and previous abuse. What’s more, nearly 25 percent of the perpetrators were prohibited by law from possessing a firearm, according to survivors’ reports.

Research shows that laws intended to disarm abusers work, and are critical to the safety of survivors. But laws intending to disarm abusers do not implement themselves, and failure to enforce them can have devastating consequences for survivors of domestic violence. The moment a survivor seeks legal assistance is often a time of heightened risk, making it even more crucial that laws to remove firearms from homes with domestic violence are effectively implemented. Information on effective implementation of these laws is here. 

The evidence from today’s report is clear: states with laws that keep guns out of the hands of abusers saw lower rates of homicide and subsequent suicide among intimate partners. Across the nation, legislators have a duty to pass comprehensive gun safety laws, and state and local courts as well as law enforcement must properly implement existing laws to prevent the deadliest outcome of IPV, and save lives.  

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.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org/chat to chat with a counselor from the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline provides 24/7, free, and confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress anywhere in the US.