Pennsylvania works to reduce gun-related domestic violence
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* Melanie Padgett Powers

Over the past 10 years, 1,600 Pennsylvanians died from domestic violence. At least 49% of those deaths were due to firearms.

These statistics were gathered by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which gun control advocates rely on because the state is not required to collect data on domestic violence. However, the coalition may not be able to capture every incident. Plus, the state does not have a specific criminal charge for “domestic violence;” instead, abusers are charged with crimes such as battery or assault.

This illustrates just one of the challenges of reducing gun-related intimate partner violence in the state, said APHA member Shira Goodman, JD, executive director of CeaseFirePA, a statewide gun violence prevention organization, at a Nov. 4 session at APHA’s 2019 Annual Meeting and Expo on reducing firearm-related intimate partner violence.

Another challenge in Pennsylvania is private gun sales, Goodman said. While federal law does not regulate private sales of guns, Pennsylvania law requires background checks on private sales. However, the law includes an exception for long guns, which include shotguns, rifles and semiautomatic rifles.

Goodman said some argue that long guns are not typically used in murders, but she said that ignores the fact that long guns are often the weapons of choice in mass shootings.

![Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/https://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/49/10/30.1/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/49/10/30.1/F1)

Portraits and personal items of people killed by firearms adorn the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum in 2018 as part of an anti-gun rally. State advocacy groups such as CeaseFirePA are working to create legislation that would remove guns from people believed to be a danger to themselves or to society.

Photo by Bastiaan Slabbers, NurPhoto courtesy Getty Images

Advocates also suspect that such guns are commonly used in domestic violence cases, but such state-level data is not available in Pennsylvania.

Because most gun show transactions in Pennsylvania are through licensed dealers who have to conduct background checks, buyers cannot take advantage of the so-called gun show loophole. But to get around the requirements, private sales — which are not subject to background checks — are often done in the parking lots of gun shows.

> **“Every year there’s an effort to get rid of (the Pennsylvania Instant Check System). The people on the opposite side will say it’s duplicative. (But) our system works really well.”**
> 
> **— Shira Goodman**

“What happens when you leave the show is different, and there are a lot of arrests in those parking lots,” Goodman said.

On the positive side, the state implemented a background check system — Pennsylvania Instant Check System, or PICS — in 1998. In fact, the system contains more records than the federal system has on Pennsylvania.

“Every year, there’s an effort to get rid of (the system),” Goodman said. “The people on the opposite side will say it’s duplicative...Our system works really well, and we fight very hard to keep it.”

In the past few years, state police — inspired by a similar effort in Virginia — began to check on residents who were denied a firearm through the instant check system to make sure people are not violating the law.

In 2018, violence prevention advocates celebrated another success — passage of a new state law that strengthened abuse order protections.

Previously, about 14% of such legal orders included mandatory gun surrender.

Now, all adjudicated protection from abuse orders require that guns be surrendered. In addition, people required to give up their guns now have 24 to 48 hours to surrender the firearms and must hand them into law enforcement, a licensed gun dealer or an attorney.

In the past, they had 60 days to surrender firearms and could hand them over to anyone, including a relative, friend or neighbor.

Among CeaseFirePA’s ongoing priorities are closing the long gun loophole in the background check system and enacting extreme risk protection order legislation, which would temporarily remove a person’s access to guns if the individual is believed to be a threat to themselves or others.

Another priority is providing adequate funding for law enforcement to store relinquished firearms.

For more on gun policies that work, visit [www.apha.org/gun-violence](http://www.apha.org/gun-violence). For more on Pennsylvania gun violence protections, visit [www.ceasefirePA.org](http://www.ceasefirePA.org).

*A version of this story was published on APHA’s Annual Meeting Blog.*

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association