By Tom Jacobs, Pacific Standard, August 6, 2019
As we recently reported at Pacific Standard, having a gun in the home increases the chances that a domestic violence dispute will turn lethal. New research reveals another circumstance that might exert the same effect: having a firearms dealer conveniently located nearby.
In a new study, Richard Stansfield and Daniel Semenza of Rutgers University–Camden report that, on average, urban counties with more federally licensed firearms dealers per person have higher rates of intimate-partner homicides.
"If there is greater access to legal guns, it could make it easier for someone to purchase a gun in the throes of an argument, before there is time to cool off," Semenza said in announcing the findings. "We can't definitively say that's the dynamic here, but this study backs prior research indicating that greater access [is linked to] an increased risk."
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