Firearms laws and violence against women

Abstract

One in two women in the U.S. report experiencing physical violence, sexual violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, and gun access is a central channel through which abusers can harm and control partners. I study whether state reforms that restrict domestic abusers’ access to firearms reduce violence against women. Leveraging variation in law changes across time and states, I find significant declines in reported violence after changes in the law with spillovers beyond intimate-partner incidents. The pattern is consistent with changes in coercive control and deterrence mechanisms. The results indicate that carefully scoped firearm prohibitions can reduce violence against women and these findings are relevant to inform policy discussions on gun laws and women’s safety.