Fight Like a Mother

by Shannon Watts

  14.J. C. Karberg, R. J. Frandsen, J. M. Durst, T. D. D. Buskirk, and A. D. Lee, “Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2013–14: Statistical Tables,” US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 2016, http://bit.ly/2av5tvL. Data for 2015 and 2016 were obtained by Everytown for Gun Safety from the FBI directly. Though the majority of transactions and denials reported by the FBI and Bureau of Justice Statistics are associated with a firearm sale or transfer, a small number may be for concealed-carry permits and other reasons not related to a sale or transfer.

  15.K. E. Rudolph, E. A. Stuart, J. S. Vernick, and D. W. Webster, “Association Between Connecticut’s Permit-to-Purchase Handgun Law and Homicides,” American Journal of Public Health 105, no. 8 (2015): e49–e54.

  16.D. Webster, C. K. Crifasi, and J. S. Vernic, “Effects of Missouri’s Repeal of Its Handgun Purchaser Licensing Law on Homicides,” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, December 17, 2013, https://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-gun-policy-and-research/_pdfs/effects-of-missouris-repeal-of-its-handgun-purchaser-licensing-law-on-homicides.pdf.

  17.A. Baker, “A Hail of Bullets, a Heap of Uncertainty,” New York Times, December 9, 2007.

  18.J. Hanna and H. Yan, “Sutherland Springs Church Shooting: What We Know,” CNN, November 7, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/05/us/texas-church-shooting-what-we-know/index.html; R. Bustamente, “Autopsy for Texas Church Gunman Confirms Death by Suicide,” USA Today, August 29, 2018.

  19.W. J. Krouse and D. J. Richardson, “Mass Murder with Firearms: Incidents and Victims, 1999–2013,” Congressional Research Service, July 30, 2015, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44126.pdf.

  20.“Public Law 112-265—January 14, 2013,” Authenticated U.S. Government Information, GPO, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-112publ265/pdf/PLAW-112publ265.pdf.

  21.Everytown for Gun Safety, “Mass Shootings in the United States: 2009–2016,” March 2017, https://everytownresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Analysis_of_Mass_Shooting_033117.pdf.

  22.World Health Organization, Depression and Other Common Mental Disorders: Global Health Estimates (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2017), 8 and 10.

  23.J. Y. Choe, L. A. Teplin, and K. M. Abram, “Perpetration of Violence, Violent Victimization, and Severe Mental Illness: Balancing Public Health Concerns,” Psychiatric Services 59, no. 2 (2008): 153–164.

  24.Everytown for Gun Safety, “Mass Shootings,” 2.

  25.M. Livingston, “More States Approving ‘Red Flag’ Laws to Keep Guns Away from People Perceived as Threats,” Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2018.

  26.Cornell University Law School, Legal Information Institute, District of Columbia et al. v. Heller (No. 07-290), 478 F. 3d 370, argued March 18, 2008, decided June 26, 2008, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-290.ZS.html.

  27.D. Hemenway and E. G. Richardson, “Homicide, Suicide, and Unintentional Firearm Fatality: Comparing the United States with Other High-Income Countries, 2003,” Journal of Trauma 70 (2011): 238–242.

  28.Five times more likely: J. C. Campbell, S. W. Webster, J. Koziol-McLain, et al., “Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships: Results from a Multisite Case Control Study,” American Journal of Public Health 93 (2003): 1089–1097; fifty American women: Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Supplementary Homicide Reports, 2009–13,” https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/NACJD/series/57/studies#; one million American women and four and a half million American women: S. B. Sorenson and R. A. Schut, “Nonfatal Gun Use in Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review of the Literature,” Trauma, Violence, and Abuse 19, no. 4 (2016): 431–442.

  29.Between the inception of the NICS system in 1998 and December 31, 2018, 145,826 gun sales were federally denied due to a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence conviction, and 60,254 gun sales were federally denied due to restraining or protection orders for domestic violence, making a total of 206,080 federal denials related to domestic violence. US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, “NICS Denials: Reasons Why the NICS Section Denies, Nov. 1, 1998–Dec. 31, 2018.” Between 1998 and 2010, state and local agencies issued a total of 945,915 denials, and for agencies that reported reasons for these denials, 13.2 percent were denials for domestic violence reasons—which would represent another 124,861 domestic violence denials. R. J. Frandsen, D. Naglich, G. A. Lauver, and A. D. Lee, “Background Checks for Firearms Transfers, 2010: Statistical Tables,” US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, February 2013, http://1.usa.gov/Z8vYsa. Between 2012 and 2014, state and local agencies reportedly issued an additional 18,578 domestic violence–related denials. J. C. Karberg, R. J. Frandsen, J. M. Durso, and A. D. Lee, “Background Checks for Firearms Transfers, 2012: Statistical Tables,” US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, December 9, 2014, http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5157; J. C. Karberg, R. J. Frandsen, J. M. Durso, T. D. Buskirk, and A. D. Lee, “Background Checks for Firearms Transfers, 2013–2014: Statistical Tables,” US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 30, 2016, http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5664. Thus, overall the background check system has issued an estimated 304,234 denials due to domestic violence–related criteria between 1998 and 2014. This is likely to be an underestimation since it does not include state and local denials data for 2011 and local denials data for 2013.

  30.US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, “NICS Operations Reports, 1998–2013,” https://www.fbi.gov/resources/library.

  31.US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data: Supplementary Homicide Reports, 2011 (ICPSR 34588),” https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR34588.v1, excludes New York because of incomplete data; Florida Department of Law Enforcement, “Supplemental Homicide Report, 2010,” http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/Crime-Data/SHR.aspx.

  32.Mayors Against Illegal Guns, “Felon Seeks Firearm, No Strings Attached: How Dangerous People Evade Background Checks and Buy Illegal Guns Online,” September 2013, http://bit.ly/1nllhRb.

  33.A. Cooper and E. L. Smith, “Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980–2008,” US Department of Justice, November 2011, http://1.usa.gov/1fpGIbN.

  34.Only fifteen states prohibit all domestic violence misdemeanants and subjects of restraining orders from buying or owning guns: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia.

  35.“American Outdoor Brands Corporation Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2018 Financial Results,” American Outdoor Brands, March 1, 2018, http://ir.smith-wesson.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=90977&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2335745; M. Haag, “Remington, Centuries-Old Gun Maker, Files for Bankruptcy as Sales Slow,” New York Times, March 25, 2018.

  36.K. Washburn and R. Maguire, “Member Dues Plummet, Leaving the NRA in the Red for Second Straight Year,” OpenSecrets.org, Center for Responsive Politics, September 19, 2018, https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/09/nra-in-the-red-for-2nd-straight-year/.

  37.“DFS Fines Lockton Companies $7 Million for Underwriting NRA-Branded ‘Carry Guard’ Insurance Program in Violation of New York Insurance Law,” New York State Department of Financial Services press release, May 2, 2018, https://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/press/pr1805021.htm.

  38.M. T. Vulla, “Guidance on Risk Management Relating to the NRA and Similar Gun Promotion Organizations,” New York State Department of Financial Services memorandum, April 19, 2018, https://www.dfs.ny.gov/legal/dfs/DFS_Guidance_Risk_Management_NRA_Gun_Manufacturers-Insurance.pdf.

  39.T. Dickinson, “The NRA Says It’s in Deep Financial Trouble, May Be ‘Unable to Exist,’” Rolling Stone, August 3, 2018, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/nra-financial-trouble-706371/.

  40.Associated Press, “These Are the Companies That Have Cut Ties with the NRA,” Los Angeles Times, May 2, 2018.

  41.“National Rifle Association: Outside Spending
Summary, 2012,” OpenSecrets.org, Center for Responsive Politics, https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=National+Rifle+Assn&cycle=2012.

  42.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Injury Prevention and Control, WISQARS (Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System), “Fatal Injury Data,” https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html. Data reflect a five-year average (2012–2016) of gun deaths by race. Analysis includes all ages, non-Hispanic only, and homicide, including legal intervention.

  CHAPTER 9: Build a Big Tent

  1.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Injury Prevention and Control, WISQARS (Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System), “Nonfatal Injury Data,” https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html. Data reflect a five-year average (2012–2016) of gun deaths by intent. Analysis includes males of all ages, non-Hispanic only, and homicide, including legal intervention.

  2.Ibid., “Fatal Injury Data.” Data reflect a five-year average (2012–2016) of gun deaths by race. Analysis includes ages zero to nineteen, non-Hispanic only, and homicide, including legal intervention.

  3.Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Uniform Crime Reporting Program: Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR), 2012–2016,” https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/NACJD/series/57/studies#. Analysis by Everytown Research includes homicides involving an intimate partner and a firearm and compares the crude death rates for black women (0.63 per 100,000) versus white women (0.34 per 100,000) (all ages included; Hispanic and non-Hispanic women included).

  4.Mapping Police Violence, https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/, last updated December 21, 2018.

  5.M. Spies, “The N.R.A. Lobbyist Behind Florida’s Pro-Gun Policies,” New Yorker, March 5, 2018.

  6.N. Ackermann, M. S. Goodman, K. Gilbert, C. Arroyo-Johnson, and M. Pagano, “Race, Law, and Health: Examination of ‘Stand Your Ground’ and Defendant Convictions in Florida,” Social Science and Medicine 142 (2015): 194–201.

  7.J. K. Roman, “Race, Justifiable Homicide, and Stand Your Ground Laws: Analysis of FBI Supplementary Homicide Report Data,” Urban Institute, July 2013, https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/23856/412873-Race-Justifiable-Homicide-and-Stand-Your-Ground-Laws.pdf.

  8.E. Bazelon, “What If Trayvon Martin Was the One Acting in Self-Defense?,” Slate, March 22, 2012, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/03/floridas_stand_your_ground_law_doesnt_prohibit_that_they_arrest_george_zimmerman_for_killing_trayvon_martin.html.

  9.NCSL, National Conference of State Legislators, “Self Defense and ‘Stand Your Ground,’” July 27, 2018, http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/self-defense-and-stand-your-ground.aspx.

  10.J. Soltz, “George Zimmerman Had More Legal Authority to Kill Than Our Troops Do at War,” Think Progress, April 10, 2012, http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/04/10/460965/zimmerman-shoot-kill-troops-military/.

  11.C. Cheng and M. Hoekstra, “Does Strengthening Self-Defense Law Deter Crime or Escalate Violence? Evidence from Castle Doctrine,” Journal of Human Resources 48, no. 3 (2013): 821–854, http://econweb.tamu.edu/mhoekstra/castle_doctrine.pdf.

  12.M. Masucci and L. Langton, “Special Report: Hate Crime Victimization, 2004–2015,” US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 2017, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/hcv0415.pdf. To obtain the annual and daily average of hate crimes involving a firearm, Everytown for Gun Safety used a ten-year average of violent hate crime victimizations (2006–2015) combined with the proportion of violent hate crimes involving firearms (4.5 percent). Analysis was limited to violent hate crimes perpetrated against a person or people and does not include hate crimes against property (such as defacing a victim’s home, burglary, and vehicle theft).

  13.US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Hate Crime Statistics, 2016,” November 2017, https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2016/topic-pages/incidentsandoffenses. Everytown notes on its website: “It is important to note that the FBI UCR data on hate crimes is a severe undercount since most participating law enforcement agencies do not report these data to the FBI. The FBI UCR data were used to understand bias motivations since a breakdown for single bias incidents is provided unlike the NCVS data, which for all other purposes, is a more complete source of data for hate crime victimizations” (https://everytownresearch.org/disarm-hate/#foot_note_6).

  14.Southern Poverty Law Center, “Hate Groups Increase for Second Consecutive Year as Trump Electrifies Radical Right,” February 15, 2017, https://www.splcenter.org/news/2017/02/15/hate-groups-increase-second-consecutive-year-trump-electrifies-radical-right; R. Cohen, “Hate Crimes Rise for Second Straight Year; Anti-Muslim Violence Soars Amid President Trump’s Xenophobic Rhetoric,” Southern Poverty Law Center, November 13, 2017, https://www.splcenter.org/news/2017/11/13/hate-crimes-rise-second-straight-year-anti-muslim-violence-soars-amid-president-trumps; E. Abdelkader, “When Islamophobia Turns Violent: The 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections,” Georgetown University, posted May 15, 2016, https://ssrn.com/abstract=2779201.

  15.Anti-Defamation League, “U.S. Anti-Semitic Incidents Spike 86 Percent So Far in 2017 After Surging Last Year, ADL Finds,” April 24, 2017, https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/us-anti-semitic-incidents-spike-86-percent-so-far-in-2017.

  16.E. Waters, L. Pham, C. Convery, and S. Yacka-Bible, “A Crisis of Hate: A Report on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Hate Violence Homicides in 2017,” National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, https://avp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/a-crisis-of-hate-january-release.pdf.

  17.Human Rights Campaign, “Violence Against the Transgender Community in 2018,” https://www.hrc.org/resources/violence-against-the-transgender-community-in-2018.

  18.A. Aufrichtig, L. Beckett, J. Diehm, and J. Lartey, “Want to Fix Gun Violence in America? Go Local,” Guardian, January 9, 2017.

  19.R. J. Epstein, “The Democratic Party’s New Litmus Test: Gun Control,” Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2018.

  20.“‘My Third Conversion’: Rev. Rob Schenck on Why He Took on Gun Control,” All Things Considered, May 27, 2018, https://www.npr.org/2018/05/27/614886515/-my-third-conversion-rev-rob-schenck-on-why-he-took-on-gun-control.

  CHAPTER 10: Let This Mother Run This Mother

  1.Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics, “Women in Elective Office, 2019,” accessed January 25, 2019, http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/women-elective-office-2019.

  2.Center for Public Integrity, “Women Will Hold Record Numbers of Elected Offices in 2019. See Where They Made the Biggest Gains,” December 19, 2018, https://publicintegrity.org/state-politics/share-of-women-in-elected-office-in-every-state/.

  3.Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics, “Current Numbers,” accessed January 25, 2019, http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/current-numbers.

  4.K. Ziegler, “Female Candidates Win in Historic Numbers,” National Conference of State Legislators, November 8, 2018, http://www.ncsl.org/blog/2018/11/08/female-candidates-win-in-historic-numbers.aspx.

  5.K. Sanbonmatsu, S. J. Carroll, and D. Walsh, “Poised to Run: Women’s Pathways to the State Legislatures,” Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics (New Jersey: Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 2009), http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/resources/poisedtorun_0.pdf.

  6.J. L. Lawless and R. L. Fox, “Girls Just Wanna Not Run: The Gender Gap in Young Americans’ Political Ambition,” American University School of Public Affairs, 2013, https://www.american.edu/spa/wpi/upload/girls-just-wanna-not-run_policy-report.pdf.

  7.K. F. Kahn and E. N. Goldenberg, “Women Candidates in the News: An Examination of Gender Differences in U.S. Senate Campaign Coverage,” Public Opinion Quarterly 55, no. 2 (1991): 180–199; M. C. Bligh, M. M. Schlehofer, B. J. Casad, and A. M. Gaffney, “Competent Enough, But Would You Vote for Her? Gender Stereotypes and Media Influences on Perceptions of Women Politicians,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 42, no. 3 (2012): 560–597.

 
8.C. H. Mo, “The Consequences of Explicit and Implicit Gender Attitudes and Candidate Quality in the Calculations of Voters,” Political Behavior 37 (2012): 357.

  9.J. Lazarus and A. Steigerwalt, Gendered Vulnerability: How Women Work Harder to Stay in Office (Michigan: Michigan Univ. Press, 2018), https://www.press.umich.edu/9718645/gendered_vulnerability.

  10.C. C. Miller, “Women Actually Do Govern Differently,” New York Times, November 10, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/upshot/women-actually-do-govern-differently.html.

  11.Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics, “What Role Will Women Play in the Legislative Debate Over Gun Control?,” http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/footnotes/what-role-will-women-play-legislative-debate-over-gun-control, accessed December 28, 2018.

  12.M. Skoneki, “In Tallahassee, It’s Almost Always Marion Hammer Time, Emails Show,” Orlando Sentinel, September 23, 2018.

  13.Quinnipiac University, “Americans Have Little Hope for World Peace in 2018, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; ‘Merry Christmas’ Is Bogus Issue, Voters Say 4–1,” December 20, 2017, https://poll.qu.edu/images/polling/us/us12202017_uvc5698.pdf/.

  14.Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics, “Women in the U.S. Congress 2019,” http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/women-us-congress-2019, accessed January 25, 2019.

  15.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, “The Allianz Women, Power, and Money Study: Empowered and Underserved,” October 2016, https://www.allianzlife.com/-/media/files/allianz/documents/ent_1462_n.pdf?la=en&hash=DB76F6EE3B711B77523AABC237F9B37F6E8F2F21.

  16.US Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, “Expenditures on Children by Families Report, 2015,” miscellaneous report no. 1528-2015, January 2017, revised March 2017, https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/crc2015.pdf.

  APPENDIX: Talking to Kids About Guns