They Won’t Lay Down Their Bible or Their Guns: Implementing Domestic Violence Gun Policies in a Rural State with No Domestic Violence Gun Laws

• In Event: Gun Control Policies and Debates

Abstract

Though federal law prohibits domestic violence perpetrators from possessing a firearm, many states do not have statewide laws that prohibit non-felon perpetrators from possessing firearms. In the absence of such state laws, some communities implement gun confiscation of domestic violence perpetrators at the local court level. The present study investigated why communities that differ in culture and resources engage in procedures that mandate gun confiscation as part of a protective order. Interviews were conducted with key community professionals (N = 133) who work both in victim services and the justice system from urban and rural, Appalachian communities in a single state that has no specific domestic violence gun laws. The results revealed the following contributing factors as to why rural communities were less likely to implement gun confiscation policies: lower perceived risk of intimate partner gun violence/homicide in the community, lower perceived effectiveness of the gun confiscation policy, more barriers to enforcing the policy, increased hunting and gun culture in the community, and lower perceived community readiness to enforce the policy. The results have implications for implementing domestic violence gun laws and policies in states or communities that are resistant to enforcing gun control.

Author

• Kellie Rose Lynch, University of Texas at San Antonio