A Restraining Order Is Not Enough When an Abuser Has a Gun

On Sept. 16, the Violence Policy Center released a report finding that nearly 2,400 women were killed by men in 2024. Nearly nine out of 10 knew their killer, and firearms were used in 63.4 percent of these homicides. When an abusive partner has access to a gun, a domestic violence victim is five times more likely to be killed.

A recent Los Angeles Times investigation illustrates the deadly consequences when legal protections fail. Former partners or close relatives were charged in the deaths of at least 63 women killed in Los Angeles County in 2024 and 2025. At least 10 of those women had sought restraining orders, but only four received them.

One was Nora Villanueva Campanor, whose abusive husband stalked her for months before abducting and fatally shooting her, despite the restraining order she had secured.

For far too long, gun violence and domestic violence have been dismissed as two separate issues. They must be examined as two interwoven public health crises. Efforts to address firearm violence must center the voices of women, particularly Black women and other communities disproportionately affected by intimate partner violence.

The post A Restraining Order Is Not Enough When an Abuser Has a Gun appeared first on Ms. Magazine.