New Website Promotes Enforcement of Firearms Restrictions in Domestic Violence Cases
The website Safer Families, Safer Communities (www.preventdvgunviolence.org), will be managed by BWJP’s new National Domestic Violence and Firearms Resource Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). The website will promote the efforts of communities around the country to prevent domestic violence-related homicides through comprehensive implementation and enforcement of domestic violence-related firearm prohibitions at all levels of government.
Visitors to the website will learn about effective interventions in both criminal and civil domestic violence cases that can decrease the risk posed by dangerous domestic-violence offenders with access to firearms. Courts and communities can undertake a number of practical steps to facilitate enforcement of federal prohibitions and prevent purchases of firearms by prohibited domestic violence offenders. Website content includes comprehensive strategies and resources, including policies, protocols, and useful forms, that can enhance implementation of state, Tribal, and federal firearms prohibitions. Other features include descriptions of model community efforts, highlights of related news and policy developments, and summaries of relevant legal and social science research.
Further expansion of the website will be an ongoing activity of the National Domestic Violence and Firearms Resource Center, which will also provide training and technical assistance, build a comprehensive library of information and tools on this issue, develop an emergency response to support communities after a domestic violence-related firearms tragedy, and create a peer mentor system that connects communities which have successfully implemented firearm enforcement procedures with communities that seek to do so. To successfully accomplish these goals, BWJP has engaged the support of a strong group of partners: National Indian Women’s Resource Center, Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, End Abuse Wisconsin, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Safe Horizons, AEquitas, National Network to End Domestic Violence, and researcher April Zeoli, Ph.D. BWJP and its partners sincerely hope that through this effort communities will gain the information, training and support necessary to implement effective enforcement mechanisms that disarm domestic violence offenders.
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