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Dramatic Spike in Firearm Sales During COVID-19 Endangers Survivors  


Author:  Julia Weber.; Lindsay Nichols .


Source: Volume 25, Number 06, August/September 2020 , pp.101-105(5)




Domestic Violence Report

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Abstract: 

As pandemic shutdowns began nationwide, the U.S. witnessed significant spikes in gun and ammunition sales and background checks for gun purchases and permits or licenses. This article, by an attorney and social worker who serves as the Implementation Director for Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (Julia Weber), and the Federal Policy Director for Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, D.C. (Lindsay Nichols) examines the alarming spike in gun sales, the misinformation that contributed to the spike, and the immediate and longer-term consequences of this new flow of weapons into society. The unsettling spike should be a call to action for advocates who have been arguing for decades that protecting the lives of American women and families requires lawmakers to take steps to ensure that individuals convicted of domestic abuse and stalking or restrained by a protective order do not have access to guns and that all jurisdictions enact gun safety laws that recognize the very real risks associated with firearms and intimate partner violence.

Keywords: Gun and Ammunition Sales; Problems With Background Checks; Consequences of Stay-at-Home Orders

Affiliations:  1: Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence; 2: Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

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