Definition 

Incidents involving perpetrators with guns, (including shotguns, bb guns, air weapons, replica guns, imitation guns, airsoft guns and paintball guns) who kill, injure, threaten, intimidate, control or generate fear of violence to partners, ex partners, family members, neighbours or others known to the perpetrator.

LEGALLY OWNED GUNS USED IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

In England and Wales 1 in 3 women killed by their husbands is shot with a weapon which is legally owned  – 64% of these murders involve shotguns.

(Source Criminal Statistics England and Wales 2000 p 66 - 67)

Family killings are the only category of homicides where women outnumber men as victims. The trauma of threat is greater when a husband or partner has a gun and the presence of a firearm reduces a woman's capacity for resistance or escape.

GUNS STORED IN THE HOME

The greatest risk of gun violence to women is in their own homes, and when a woman is killed at home it is her partner or male relative who is most likely to be the murderer, often with a prior history of domestic violence.   A gun stored in the home increases the likelihood of those living there being involved in a gun accident, gun suicide, gun injury or gun homicide.  Guns available on impulse are used in response to traumatic situations, sometimes with tragic consequences.  Just because a gun is legally owned does not mean it is safe.  Legal gun owners are not immune from emotional physical social, financial or relationship crisis.

FEMALE GUN VICTIMS

During the year ending March 2010, the period used by the Home Office and the Scottish Government for compiling detailed gun crime statistics, nine women and one 4-year-old girl have been shot dead. All but one are known to have been killed in domestic incidents by a partner, ex-partner or, in one instance, father.

The other fatality, one of two in March 2010, has also been linked to a domestic dispute, though the identity of the gunman is not yet known.

After seven of the deaths the perpetrator killed himself - in only one instance was the possibility of a suicide pact mentioned.

In May 2009 another woman died after being shot with a bolt gun, not classified as a firearm, by a man whom she knew and had been stalking her. There were two further incidents involving girls one shot in the leg in July 2009 and the other abducted at gunpoint in March 2010, and their mothers’ former partners who then killed themselves with shotguns.

It is estimated that in the last 10 years nearly three quarters of all female shooting fatalities occurred in domestic incidents.

A recent court case in which a woman was convicted of murder after shooting her husband in January 2009 was a reminder that, whilst the vast majority of those affected are women, men can also become victims of armed domestic violence.

There is a tendency for domestic shooting incidents to be treated as tragic but rather private incidents yet they make up a significant proportion of all gun homicides in Great Britain.  The possibility that guns kept in the home can be and are abused should never be ignored.

In two of the three incidents which involved illegal handguns the presence of guns in the house was apparently well known.

One man from Devon was a collector of antique guns, the other from Aldershot had found a pistol in a skip and had kept it. Following the triple shooting in Aldershot, Hampshire Police have announced a gun amnesty saying that “many people within the community have told us they are unaware of the laws surrounding gun ownership”. However, in a large proportion of domestic incidents the likelihood remains that the gun used will be legally-owned. Eight of the incidents mentioned above involved shotguns, with the majority of the perpetrators, if not all, licensed owners.

In most domestic violence situations it is the presence of the gun in the home, not its legal status, which is critical.

CORONERS' CONCERNS OVER POLICE FAILURE TO REVOKE FIREARMS CERTIFICATES FOLLOWING THREATS FROM CERTIFICATE HOLDERS 

There have been a number of occasions when Police have failed to respond adequately to threats made by legal gun owners.  In some cases these failures have led to injuries, fatalities and suicides and have been the subject of criticism from families and Coroners.  

For example:-

A coroner has criticised police in Lincolnshire for "extraordinary" failings in the lead up to a man shooting his teenage step-daughter before killing himself. Elvis Cant was on police bail accused of assaulting and threatening to kill her at the time of the incident in Potterhanworth, Lincolnshire, where Cant had tracked her down in July 2009 (see Incidents). He had a double barrelled shotgun he bought hours earlier and struggled with his step-daughter's natural father before shooting her in the leg and then missing her with a second shot. He was found dead an hour later in a nearby field with gunshot wounds. Officers had confiscated three shotguns from Cant but did not take his firearms certificate allowing him to buy the other gun. An open verdict was recorded on Cant because the coroner was not entirely clear how he came by his death. Lincolnshire Police offered an unreserved apology to the victim and her family.

Source: BBC, 31 March 2010

OTHER FATAL DOMESTIC INCIDENTS

A man shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend before shooting himself dead in Feltwell, Norfolk.  He suffered gunshot wounds to the head.  The woman was with a baby at the time of the incident.  Her condition is not thought to be life threatening.  It is understood that the dead man had appeared in court in January 2009 after attacking another ex-partner and was given a suspended prison sentence.  Police said investigations were underway to establish how the man came to have gun.  They are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.  The police have said that the dead man did not have a gun licence but had previously been considered eligible for a firearms licence and had voluntarily surrendered a shotgun licence. His victim was shot with a shotgun and a .22 single-shot pistol was found by his body (East Anglian Daily Times, 21 July 2010).

Source: Evening Telegraph (Peterborough) 20 July 2010

An inquest has heard that Andrew Pawlowski shot his partner as she lay on the floor before he put a Magnum .357 revolver to his temple and killed himself.  The two died at their home in Dousland, Devon, in April 2009 (see Incidents).  The shootings were witnessed by Pawlowski's mother.  Apart from the Magnum revolver several other guns were found at the property.  At the inquest he was described as controlling and a drinker.  The coroner recovered a suicide verdict and a verdict of unlawful killing on his partner.

Source: The Herald (Plymouth) l6 June 2010

Source: BBC 11 June 2010

Helen Lawson fired both barrels of a shotgun at point-blank range at her husband after waking him up in bed at their home in Wellow, Isle of Wight, in January 2009 (see Incidents). She was found guilty of murder and will serve a minimum of 15 years in prison.

Source: BBC, 31 March 2010

Andrew Copland shot his ex-partner and their 4-year-old daughter at his home in Aldershot, Hampshire, in December 2009 (see Incidents) before killing himself an inquest heard. The weapon was a 1934 Beretta semi-automatic pistol. His ex-partner's new boyfriend said she had told him Copland was violent and had a gun in the loft. The coroner recorded that he had unlawfully killed the mother and child and then took his own life. Copland had found the gun in a skip whilst he was  working as a builder in 1998 (BBC, 2 April 2010).

Source: Press Association, 24 March 2010

A man has killed himself after holding a child hostage at gunpoint in Dingwall, Ross-shire, for three hours. Police had managed to negotiate the child's safe release. The gunman had abducted the 11-year-old daughter of a former girlfriend and shot himself with a shotgun (The Herald, 25 March 2010). The man had broken a series of court bans on approaching the girl's mother after previously assaulting her (Highland News, 1 April 2010).

Source: Evening Standard, 23 March 2010

A woman has been shot on the doorstep of her home in Clapton, east London. She was found with fatal injuries and pronounced dead at the scene. It has been suggested that the murder was a domestic incident that got out of hand and that the weapon was a shotgun (Hackney Post, 25 March 2010).The victim's former husband and another man were arrested on suspicion of murder, and a boy of 15 has been charged with the alleged contract killing (Daily Mirror, 14 April 2010).

Source: BBC, 17 March 2010

A married couple have been found dead at a house in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, after a suspected shooting incident. The police are not believed to be looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. It is reported that the man took his double-barrelled shotgun from a locked cabinet and waited for his wife to return from her job. He shot her and then himself. It is alleged by one of the man's friends that he had said that "he'd had enough of his wife and was going home to shoot her. We knew he had a gun licence".

BBC, 9 March 2010

Two people have been found dead with gunshot wounds at a flat in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. A handgun was recovered from the scene. The police were not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident. It is understood that the man shot his ex-partner before killing himself

Source: Telegraph, 9 March 2010.

A full list of Domestic Incidents involving guns can be found at www.gun-control-network.org 

AIRGUNS USED IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Because "low powered" airguns can be bought relatively cheaply and easily and without any background checks on the suitability of the gun owner, they are regularly used by criminals. Airguns are bought and used by those with a history of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, mental illness, antisocial behaviour, violent behaviour and domestic violence.  Even when victims are not physically injured by shots from airguns the trauma of being threatened with a gun can have long term life changing consequences for adults and children who witness, or are involved in incidents of armed domestic violence.  The immense financial and human cost of dealing with these incidents is met by Hospitals, General Practitioners, the Ambulance Service, Police, the Justice System, Local Authorities, Housing Organisations, Social Services and others, from funds provided by the public. 

For example:

Richard Jackson shot his partner in the leg during a drunken assault.  The attack happened when he returned drunk to their home in Tamworth, Staffordshire.  He threw two punches at her and then ran upstairs to get his air rifle to find her cornered in the back garden.  He has admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, criminal damage and cultivating cannabis and been jailed for two years.

Source: Tamworth Herald, 12 August 2010

Paul Thompson has admitted arming himself with an air pistol during a family brawl in Dagenham, east London, in December 2008.  He was attacked by his son and his son's stepfather after he pointed the gun at his ex-partner.  The other two men have been found guilty of affray and are facing jail.

Source: Barking & Dagenham Post 23 June 2010

Sebastian Mateza and his brother Pedro Mateza, both aged 19, lured a former girlfriend to their home in Chiswick, west London, in September 2009 where Sebastian shot her in the stomach at point blank range with an airgun.  They left her thinking she was going to die.  The two were both convicted with intent, two counts of having with intent to commit an indictable offence and a fourth of having an imitation firearm in a public place.  Both were given indeterminate jail sentences with a minimum of four years.  A third man, Daniel Kongo, was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of wounding with intent and having an imitation firearm in a public place.

Source: Hounslow Chronicle, 21 June 2010

A jockey has been arrested on suspicion of assault and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear.  The arrest followed an altercation with his girlfriend in Newmarket, Suffolk.  The firearm is understood to have been a broken air rifle.  He was released with no charge and commented that "this is a private matter which is now resolved".

Source: Racing Post 18 April 2010

Armed police responding to reports of a disturbance sealed off part of the centre of Newport.  Officers broke into a property and a woman, two-year-old and a baby were taken away in an ambulance.  A man was escorted to a police station.  An air rifle was recovered from the premises.  No shots were fired and no one was injured.

Source: South Wales Argus, 20 February 2010

To read about more airgun crimes click on 'Gun Incidents' and from the 'Issue type' option select  'airgun'. For more information about airguns hover on 'Gun type' and select 'airguns'.

AIRGUNS AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Airguns are used to threaten and control and to enable sexual violence in domestic violence incidents and other situations.

For example:-

Two men have denied raping and sexually assaulting a woman in a pub in Checkendon, Berkshire, in May 2009.  It is alleged that the woman was too afraid to fight because she thought one of the men owned an air rifle which was in the property.

Source: Get Wokingham 29 July 2010

THE CONSEQUENCES OF NON FATAL ARMED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Victims are subjected to threats of violence, intimidation and sexual abuse from perpetratrs owning various guns, including shotguns, bb guns, airguns, airsoft, paintball and replica guns etc.  Even when victims are not physically injured by being shot the trauma of being threatened with a gun  (or an imitation gun the victim believes to be real) can have long term life changing consequences for adults and children who witness, or are involved in incidents of armed domestic violence. 

The immense financial and human cost of dealing with these incidents is met by Hospitals, General Practitioners, the Ambulance Service, Police, the Justice System, Local Authorities, Housing Organisations, Social Services and others, from funds provided by the public.

For example:

Edgar Clark, 73, has been jailed for two and a half years after threatening to shoot his partner and her son with a shotgun at their home in Corby, Northamptonshire. The gun had reportedly been altered by Clark to accommodate live ammunition (it was created to be an imitation gun), and he threatened her for an hour and 20 minutes. The shooting threats were recorded by Clark's partner from a device in her bag. Clark was convicted of possessing a firearm, making threats to kill and false imprisonment.

Source: Evening Telegraph, 26 July 2011

John Pitcher, 21, has been jailed for five years after being convicted of wounding and fraud. Pitcher opened fire at his father with the elder man's shotgun in his home in Plymouth in December 2010. He hit him in the shoulder, causing a severe injury. The younger Pitcher, who had been due to join the Royal Navy two months later, was cleared of attempted murder.

Source: BBC News

In January 2010 Peter Slaughter chased his ex-partner in her car whilst armed with a double-barrelled shotgun.  She eventually attracted police attention by driving repeatedly round a roundabout in Monmouth (see Incidents).  Earlier Slaughter had burst into her stables and said he would kill her, a local farmer and then himself.  She managed to get away and sped off in the car.  Slaughter admitted possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and placed under indefinite restraining order preventing him from contacting his ex-partner or the farmer.  He was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Source: BBC 4 August 2010

Two police officers have been honoured for disarming and subduing a man at a house in Weetwood, Leeds.  The man was pointing a handgun at them when they responded to a 999 call from the man's partner who had taken refuge in the bathroom.  The gun was later found to be a replica which appeared entirely real.  The man, who was high on cocaine, was convicted of affray and given a 12-month sentence suspended for two years, a 12-month supervision order and ordered to do 250 hours of community service.

Source: Yorkshire Evening Post 7 August 2010

Paul Swain held an imitation gun to the head of his wife when their marriage collapsed.  He threatened that "This is for you" as she was driving through Walsall, West Midlands.  His wife did not immediately report the incident to the police but did so when Swain attacked her at the house they shared after a drinking spree.  Swain admitted possession of an imitation firearm and assault and was jailed for 16 months.

Express & Star l6 April 2010

Ross Murphy held an imitation handgun to his girlfriend's head.  His victim was left cowering between a tumble drier and microwave at a house they shared in Mauchline, Ayrshire, in December 2009.  Friends managed to get the gun out of his hand.  The gun did not fire bullets or pellets but made a loud shooting sound and is used to scare birds.  Murphy, a member of the local airgun club, pleaded guilty to shooting, swearing, acting in a threatening manner, brandishing an imitation handgun, placing a woman in a state of fear and alarm and committing a beach of the peace.  He was fined £330 and allowed to walk free.  The sheriff said he was taking note of his early guilty plea and favourable background report.

Source: Ayrshire Post, 26 March 2010

A police officer based in Haverhill, Suffolk, has received a commendation after disarming a man during a domestic dispute.  A man who had been holding a long-barrelled rifle was arrested.

Source:- Haverhill Weekly News, 18 March 2010

Alan Long from Eccles, Greater Manchester, shot his girlfriend in the neck with a sawn-off shotgun after they argued about his cheating on her.  He escaped an attempted murder charge after the court heard he had not intended to shoot her and a fault made the weapon fire.  After the shooting he fled the scene with a shotgun, a handgun and ammunition in a bag.  He admitted possessing the shotgun and handgun with intent to endanger life, plus charges of possessing ammunition and farming cannabis plants.  He was jailed indeterminately for the public protection. 

Source: Manchester Evening News, 14 February 2010

BB / REPLICA AND IMITATION GUNS USED IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Because BB imitation and replica guns can be bought relatively cheaply and easily and without any background checks on the suitability of the gun owner, they are regularly used by criminals.   BB guns are bought and used by those with a history of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, mental illness, antisocial behaviour, violent behaviour and domestic violence.  Even when victims are not physically injured by shots from BB guns the trauma of being threatened with a gun can have long term life changing consequences for everyone affected including the elderly, young adults, and children who witness, or are involved in incidents of armed domestic violence.

For example:-

Police arrested a man in Kidderminster, Worcestershire after an incident at a home. The man was charged with possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, affray and assaulting a woman.

Source: Kidderminster Shuttle, 27 April 2012

Source: Sunderland Echo, 4 November 2011

Michael Clarkson from Speke, Merseyside, "lost all control" and threatened to set fire to a car while armed with an BB gun.  He wrongly believed his partner was having an affair after finding a text message on her phone.  He admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, affray and criminal damage and has been jailed for 16 months.

Source: Liverpool Echo 8 June 2010

A man seen carrying a gun has been shot dead in the street by police in Harold Hill, east London.  The police had been responding to an apparent domestic dispute between a man and a woman.  Firearms have been recovered from the scene.  The Directorate of Public Standards and the Independent Police Complaints Commission have been informed.  It is reported that he had the man had brandished a gun at children (Telegraph, 29 October 2008).  He was armed with imitations of an AK47 assault rifle and a police issue machine gun.  An inquest jury has reached a verdict of lawful killing into his death

Source: BBC 29 October 2008 and Romford Recorder, 18 June 2010.

Ian Henderson threatened his elderly mother with a BB gun at his parents' house in Salfords, Surrey, in September 2009.  He was drunk at the time and shouted abuse at her and then flashed the imitation handgun and said he was going to shoot her and bury her in the garden.  He said he carried the gun sometimes with a view to shooting cats.  His mother called the police who found 1,500 ball bearings in his bag which could have been used as ammunition.  He admitted one count of possessing an imitation firearm and was sentenced to 20 months' imprisonment.

Source: Get Surrey, 15 February 2010
 

The immense financial and human cost of dealing with these incidents is met by Hospitals, General Practitioners, the Ambulance Service, Police, the Justice System, Local Authorities, Housing Organisations, Social Services and others, from funds provided by the public.

For example:-

A man from Hartshome, Leicestershire, is on trial accused of 26 offences of cruelty to his two sons and two daughters and two counts of actual bodily harm against his wife.  The alleged incidents which occurred between 1987 and 2000 include shooting at his children with a BB gun.

Source: This is Leicestershire, 31 October 2009

REPLICA AND IMITATION GUNS USED IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Those having replica and imitation guns stored in the home use them to frighten, threaten, control and intimidate others.  Family members are particularly at risk.  These incidents are frequently associated with alchohol abuse.

For example:-