Getting Guns Away From Abusers Will Save Lives

We can start with better domestic violence gun surrender laws and a stronger implementation system.

By David Lamb and Megan Walsh, The Progressive

“273.D.” The dispatch code for domestic violence sends chills down the spines of law enforcement officers, who know these calls to be among the most dangerous. Early on the morning of February 18, police and first responders in Burnsville, Minnesota, saw just how deadly domestic abuse incidents can be. Although they saved seven children and the killer’s girlfriend from harm, two officers and a firefighter were killed.

This tragedy was avoidable. Federal laws and statutes in every state prohibit domestic abusers from having access to guns. The perpetrator of the triple homicide near the Twin Cities was one such offender. After being convicted for assault with a dangerous weapon, he was barred from possessing firearms. Yet in the February 18 shooting, he fired hundreds of rounds from multiple guns.

Far too often, failures in implementing laws that seek to disarm abusers leave guns in their hands. In 2022, a Colorado man who was required to surrender his guns because of a restraining order shot and killed four people. Before that, an Ohio man who was prohibited from owning guns killed his two-and-a-half-year-old son and shot his wife.