Title
Authorizing the Special Committee on Gun Violence Prevention to conduct hearings to examine the correlation between domestic violence and gun violence.
Body
WHEREAS, Philadelphia faces an ongoing trend of rapidly rising gun violence. As of December 6th, 2021, Philadelphia has already suffered 521 homicides, mostly committed with firearms, which is a 13% increase from the same time in 2020 and a 58% increase over the same time in 2019; and
WHEREAS, Domestic violence is fueling rising gun deaths among women in Philadelphia in 2021. Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw highlighted the increase in both overall and domestic-related female-involved killings in 2021. According to the Philadelphia Police Department there was a total of 40 female homicide victims in 2020, however from the beginning 2021 to Nov. 8, there have already been 60 such incidents; and
WHEREAS, According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, domestic violence is a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship; and
WHEREAS, Domestic violence affects people of all socioeconomic classes, ages, genders, races, and ethnicities. Across their lifetime, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 7 men report experiencing severe physical violence from an intimate partner and nearly 2 in 5 transgender people report having experienced intimate partner violence; and
WHEREAS, When guns are involved in domestic violence situations, it can exacerbate harm and even be fatal for victims, perpetrators, and bystanders; and
WHEREAS, Studies have found that in domestic violence situations, the risk of death is five times greater when a gun is present. According to an analysis of the Supplemental Homicide Reports, 56 percent of women murdered by an intimate partner from 2010 to 2019 were killed with a firearm; and
WHEREAS, COVID-19 has only exacerbated these instances of domestic violence. During the pandemic, there was a reported increase in inci...
Click here for full text