Close Is Dead: Determinants of Firearm Injury Lethality in Women

Abstract

IP firearm assaults against women may be underrepresented in current databases. These assaults are highly lethal, frequently occur at home, and often involve head injury. These observations may lend to strategies for trauma prevention.

Conjugality

“…Despite the fact that in many nations men and women are now formal equals (i.e., they are purportedly equal in the eyes of the law), marriage remains the site most likely to harbor the perpetration of a range of atrocities against women. Rape and other sexual assaults, bodily harm, homicide, terror, and exploitation are all as likely or more likely to occur within a woman's matrimonial home than outside it and to be committed by the victim's husband than by a stranger (Finlay-Morreale et al 2009;Marvell and Moody 1999;Carcach and James 1998). However, if reformist remedies for marriage's ills seem inadequate, other strategies do not seem to offer much more.…”

Intimate Partner Violence

“…13 The odds of a female victim dying from firearm violence are 10 times higher when shot by an intimate partner than when shot by a stranger. 15 …”

Firearm-Related Traumatic Brain Injuries in Adults: A Scoping Review

“…Stricter enforcement of firearm removal orders in cases involving IPV can also decrease intimate partner homicides. 43,44 Community reintegration programs play a vital role in enhancing functional outcomes for individuals with severe cranial GSWs. 45 Acute rehabilitation has demonstrated significant improvements in functionality, particularly within the first year postinjury, even among those with initial low GCS scores of 3, 4, or 5.…”