FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Lynn Brewer; [email protected]
Nationwide Home Violence Hotline Releases
Up to date Report Outlining Survivor Experiences with Firearms
December 10, 2024 – At this time, the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline (The Hotline), in partnership with the Battered Ladies’s Justice Venture (BWJP), launched an up to date report detailing experiences amongst victims and survivors of home violence wherein firearms have been used to intimidate, management and/or hurt them. That is an replace to The Hotline’s the 2014 report and enabled respondents to share extra particulars about their experiences together with their gender id. All through the report the findings are separated into three gender classes – feminine, male, and transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) – to higher perceive the lived experiences of survivors.
The survey outcomes touched on quite a lot of points, together with how typically victims and survivors of home violence expertise threats and violence associated to firearms, boundaries they could face whereas in search of assist, and in the event that they sought (or tried to hunt) a home violence safety order or an excessive threat safety order. Key findings from the survey embody:
• 48% of ladies, 30% of males, and 38% of transgender and non-conforming respondents indicated they’ve been threatened, coerced, stalked, or in any other case harmed by firearms.
• For all gender classes amongst survivors, the commonest individual an abuser threatened was the survivor and themselves (suicide).
• A present or former associate’s entry to firearms influenced nearly all of the survivors’ choices to hunt assist or proceed the connection.
• Survivors skilled quite a lot of boundaries in utilizing authorized choices to cease a associate from having or getting firearms.
“Understanding the impression that firearms have in abusive relationships is important to saving lives,” stated Katie Ray-Jones, CEO at The Hotline. “Firearms are the commonest weapons utilized in home violence homicides. What we frequently fail to know, nevertheless, is the methods wherein those that trigger hurt use firearms to regulate their victims and cease them from in search of security. Via this analysis, which captures the non-lethal methods wherein firearms are used to trigger hurt, we are able to perceive how we are able to intervene and higher assist survivors earlier than it’s too late.”
“We’re so grateful for the braveness of survivors who shared their tales on this survey. Their voices, and the tales we hear on daily basis at The Hotline and BWJP, remind us how typically abusers use weapons to threaten, hurt, and take lives. Too many survivors by no means get the prospect to talk out. It’s time to take actual motion—imposing legal guidelines that preserve weapons out of the arms of those that select to abuse and save lives.” Amy J. Sánchez, CEO of BWJP.
Extra details about the survey, detailed findings and statistics could be discovered within the report, which is obtainable for obtain right here.
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The Nationwide Home Violence Hotline (The Hotline) established in 1996, serves these impacted by relationship abuse within the U.S. 24/7 with free and confidential stay companies offered through telephone, chat, and textual content. The Hotline envisions a world the place all relationships are optimistic, wholesome, and free from violence. For those who or somebody you understand is experiencing relationship abuse in any type, assist is obtainable — textual content START to 88788, name 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or chat on-line at TheHotline.org. You aren’t alone.
The Battered Ladies’s Justice Venture (BWJP) is the nationwide chief on the intersection of gender-based violence (GBV) and authorized programs, driving systemic change and empowering professionals on the entrance strains. As a community of nationwide coverage and apply facilities, BWJP delivers professional session and coaching to advocates, service suppliers, group leaders, and authorized professionals, equipping them to problem and reshape authorized programs for survivors.
