Editor’s note: This commentary is by Karen Tronsgard-Scott, of Hinesburg, who is the executive director of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
[I] believe that Vermont’s neighborhoods are places where future generations should be able to live in safety, grow and thrive. Yet, in Vermont, victims of domestic violence are being killed by firearms more than any other weapon. In 2015, six of Vermont’s 16 homicides were domestic violence related, and all six were committed with a firearm. Between 1994 and 2015: 59 percent of all domestic violence-related homicides were committed with firearms. One hundred thirty-one homicides were committed and 77 of them were committed with firearms. And it is worth noting that these numbers do not include the abuse, control and torture suffered by victims whose abusers use firearms to threaten them. The lives of victims of domestic violence literally depend on our state’s ability to keep firearms out of the hands of abusers.
Current Vermont law does not allow for the removal of firearms at the scene of a domestic violence arrest. If a firearm is left in the home and an offender returns home (which could be as soon as 24 hours after arrest), the victim is at great risk for further, and potentially deadly, abuse.
Studies show that women are 70 times more likely to be killed in the two weeks after leaving a violent relationship than at any other time during the relationship.
H.422 allows law enforcement to remove firearms from a domestic violence scene. The bill states that when a law enforcement officer arrives at the scene of a domestic violence incident and has arrested or cited a person for domestic assault, the law enforcement officer may remove for five days any firearms discovered during a lawful search if the removal is necessary to protect the officer or any other person, including children in the home.
Removing firearms at the scene is necessary because the most dangerous time for victims is when they reach out for help. It can further agitate abusers and cause them to strike out again. If victims choose to leave the home, they often do not fare any better. Too often, many victims who do leave — or attempt to leave — get killed. Statistics show that victims who leave their batterers are at a 75 percent greater risk of being killed by their batterers than those who stay. Studies show that women are 70 times more likely to be killed in the two weeks after leaving a violent relationship than at any other time during the relationship. A call for help can often place the victim and the victim’s children in grave danger. Having firearms in the home only enhances the risk.
There are currently 18 other states with laws governing the removal of firearms at the scene of a domestic violence incident. Vermont must join those states by passing H.422.
I respectfully urge the passage of H.422.
