Guns make domestic violence more harmful to U.S. women: report

A woman walks in the rain in Miami, Florida, the United States, Sept. 27, 2022. (Photo by Monica McGivern/Xinhua)

More than 50 percent of all intimate partner-related murders of women were committed with a firearm.

NEW YORK, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Violence against women is a public health crisis, and guns make violent crimes against women exceptionally more deadly, reported the Center for American Progress on Monday.

Most women who die by gun violence are killed in an intimate partner or domestic violence context. In fact, the presence of a firearm in the home during a domestic violence incident increases the risk of death fivefold, said the report.

Additionally, more than 50 percent of all intimate partner-related murders of women were committed with a firearm, it noted.

"While not all gun violence against women is committed in a domestic violence context, it represents a large share of the violence committed against this demographic," it said.

Meanwhile, weak gun laws increase the number of violent crimes committed against women, and the U.S. states with the worst gun laws in the country experience some of the highest rates of firearm homicide against women, it added.

Weak gun laws are associated with higher firearm homicide rates for women. States that received an "F" rating in the Giffords Law Center's 2021 Annual Gun Law Scorecard for their weak gun laws have higher rates of female firearm homicide than states with an "A" rating.