An Evaluation of the Impacts of Changing Firearms Legislation on Australian Female Firearm Homicide Victimization Rates

Abstract

Reducing lethal violence against women requires comprehensive measures addressing individual, social, economic, cultural, and situational factors. Regarding situational factors, access to weapons-and firearm access in particular-has received notable research attention. However, most study comes from the United States of America, and findings may not apply elsewhere. The current study examines whether changing gun laws in Australia affected female firearm homicide victimization. Female firearm homicide victimization may have been affected; however, no significant impacts were found for male firearm homicide victimization. Findings suggest there may be value in preventing legal access to firearms by persons who have a history of intimate partner violence, although considerable further study is required.

Homicídios intencionais de mulheres com notificação prévia de violência

“…(22,31) Estudos sugerem que a restrição legal à posse de armas de fogo por pessoas com histórico de violência ao parceiro íntimo pode prevenir homicídios de mulheres. (32,33) Os objetos cortantes ou penetrantes constituíram a segunda causa dos homicídios, neste estudo. O uso de armas cortantes, objetos contundentes ou métodos que usam a força corporal pode representar um meio para agredir a vítima durante um conflito agudo, enquanto que a arma de fogo indica uma clara intenção de assassinar a vítima (premeditação).…”

Lethal Violence: A Global View on Homicide

“…More than intentional homicides, accidental killings as well as suicides are major causes of deaths which have been shown to be significantly influenced by the availability of firearms (Kalesan et al, 2017;Levine & McKnight, 2017). The international evidence for homicide reductions following more restrictive firearms regulations is mixed, but Australia, Austria and the USA offer some positive examples (Kalesan, Mobily, Keiser, Fagan & Galea, 2016;König et al, 2018;McPhedran et al, 2018;Santaella-Tenorio, Cerdá, Villaveces & Galea, 2016).…”

The drop in female homicide victimisation in Australia

“…Feminist theories of violence contend that a combination of factors that enable male domination and the subordination of women are the leading causes of women's violent victimisation (Hunnicutt, 2009; Taylor & Jasinski, 2011). While early feminist accounts emphasised the ideological bases of male violence against women, depicting it as the result of and the means by which men maintain patriarchy (Brownmiller, 1975; Firestone, 1972; Millet, 1970; Russell, 1975), many other feminist scholars have emphasised the structural sources of gender inequality, including limits on women's access to education, the labour market and income, as enabling violence and undermining the capacity of women to avoid it (Avakame, 1999; Bailey & Peterson, 1995; Brewer & Smith, 1995; Haynie & Armstrong, 2006; Titterington, 2006; Vieraitis & Williams, 2002; Whaley, 2001; Whaley & Messner, 2002). From this perspective, increases in women's empowerment and reductions in gender inequality should lead to significant long-term reductions in their risks of violent victimisation, — the so-called ameliorative hypothesis (Whaley, 2001; Whaley & Messner, 2002).…”

“…The drop in female homicide victimisation, however, has attracted little attention from Australian researchers. Only a handful of Australian studies have sought to explain trends in female homicide victimisation in any era (Lester, 1992;McPhedran, 2018;Ramstedt, 2011), and none of them sought to explain the recent declines in lethal violence against women. This means that criminologists are unable to explain one of the most significant changes in national-level crime rates in the history of the Commonwealth.…”