Firearm legislation and firearm use in female intimate partner homicide using National Violent Death Reporting System data.

Firearms account for over half of female intimate partner homicides (IPH) in the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). Although firearm-related IPH is directly associated with state-level firearm prevalence and inversely associated with specific firearm legislation targeting intimate partner violence perpetrators, these associations may be due to the underlying nature of the perpetrator population rather than the legislation or policy. We explored the impact of firearm legislation on weapon use in IPH in a cross-sectional analysis using NVDRS data via the WISQARS online interactional system, through examination of firearm (F) and non-firearm (NF) age-adjusted mortality rates and firearm: non-firearm (F:NF) rate ratios across victim gender and in states with varying levels of firearm restrictions. Overall, for 2015 (27 states aggregated), the impact of gender was substantial: the F:NF ratio for male victims was 0.92, indicating a small lead for NF mechanisms, but for female victims, it was 1.5, with greater firearm use apparent. When looking only at female IPH, jurisdictions with high firearm restrictions show a pronounced trend for a F:NF ratio <1.0 whereas states with few of these restrictions demonstrate ratios >1.0. Numerous limitations apply, including: the cross sectional nature of the data, varying years for available state data; and lack of control for multiple demographic variables. Despite its limitations, this analysis extends prior research by comparing rates of NF use across jurisdictions, and suggests that availability of firearms by itself plays an important role in driving IPH rates higher in areas with fewer firearm restrictions.