LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today issued the following response after the introduction of House Bills 4497, 4498, and 4499, bipartisan legislation that would help protect women and families from domestic abusers with firearms. The bills were filed Wednesday, the day after hundreds of Moms Demand Action volunteers from across Michigan met with lawmakers at the Capitol and urged them to pass legislation to help keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.
“This legislation is good news for everyone living in Michigan,” said Emily Durbin, volunteer with the Michigan chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Too many Michigan families and communities have seen what can happen when an abuser has easy access to a gun. Keeping guns out of the hands of abusers will help to make us all safer, and we look forward to seeing this important legislation advance.”
The combination of guns and domestic violence can be deadly. American women are 21 times more likely to be killed with a gun than women in other high-income countries. Over one-third of women in Michigan report experiencing some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime. In the last five years, at least 201 Michiganders were killed in intimate partner homicide and 51 percent of them were shot and killed with a firearm.
