Who is most impacted by guns and domestic violence?

Anyone can experience domestic violence, but some groups are impacted more than others. One in four women and one in nine men will experience DV in their lifetimes(7). Much of the data regarding domestic violence focuses on women because they are disproportionally impacted - nearly 80% of those killed by intimate partners are women.(8) In the United States, nearly 6 million women in the United States have reported being shot or shot at by an intimate partner(9), and 1.5 million women are assaulted by a partner or loved one every year. (10)

The risk of domestic violence dramatically increases when the victim is pregnant. Homicide is now the leading cause of death for pregnant people.(11) Women in the United States are now more likely to be killed during pregnancy or postpartum than to die from the leading obstetric causes of maternal mortality. (12) Between 2008 - 2019, firearms were involved in 68% of partner homicides around pregnancy. (13)

Stark racial disparities also exist - due to systemic racism created by political and social structures that put women of color at greater risk of abuse and exploitation. 55% of American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced domestic violence, the highest rate of any ethnic group, and a rate 5 times greater than white women. (14) Black women are 2.5 times more likely to experience domestic violence than white women, with an estimated 40% of Black women experiencing domestic violence in their lifetime.(15)(16) 40 - 60% of Asian and Pacific Islander (17) and 34% of Latinx women experience domestic violence in their lifetimes.(18)

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LGBTQ+ people are also disproportionally impacted by domestic violence. Transgender individuals are at a much greater risk of domestic violence than their cisgender peers, with more than half of all transgender and gender non-conforming people experiencing domestic violence.(19)

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Guns and domestic violence in Massachusetts

In 2025 alone, at least four domestic violence murder-suicides have occurred in Massachusetts, three involving firearms. In 2024, 12 out of 23 domestic violence homicides were committed with a gun. Massachusetts still has a lot of work to do, but there is evidence that our strong state gun laws are making a difference and saving lives.(20) A recent policy analysis from Everytown found that states with strong gun laws that restrict abusers' access to firearms have three times fewer domestic violence murder-suicides than states with weaker laws.