Mary knew her boyfriend had multiple firearms. And, he used them to terrify and abuse her. He would hide under the laundry waiting for her to arrive, so he could violently threaten her and exert control. When she arrived home one evening, he was waiting in the driveway with a concealed firearm. She was scared.

Fortunately, Mary was able to de-escalate the situation that night, before fleeing Pennsylvania to escape her abuser. But she couldn’t leave the trauma behind of being stalked by someone who might have a hidden firearm at any given moment. It’s an experience all too familiar to the nearly one in four women and one in seven men who experience severe physical abuse at the hands of their intimate partner.

Mary was relatively lucky, every year dozens of partners in Mary’s situation are killed by their abuser–often with a firearm.​

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians experience domestic violence. They are threatened and assaulted. When firearms are used the attack is 12 times more likely to end in death than other weapons. 

Too many pay the ultimate price for abuse with a firearm, but the terror extends beyond that. As in Mary’s case, 4.5 million report being threatened by their partner with a firearm. It is used in these cases as a tool for control and fear, forcing partners to stay in a relationship for fear of their lives or that of their children.