On Nov. 3, Lumina Alliance, a local service organization that supports survivors of sexual and domestic abuse, launched a gun safety initiative. The campaign includes awareness efforts, resources and a pledge to work towards ending violence.
According to the Special Campaign Administrator of the Domestic Violence Fatality Project Clementine Ellis, Lumina Alliance is focusing on two major components: the connection between firearms and intimate partner violence (IPV) and the connection between IPV and mass shootings.
According to Ellis, women are five times more likely to be killed by their abuser if they have access to guns.
“Intimate partner violence can happen without the presence of a gun, but having a gun in an intimate partner violence situation makes those dangerous situations turn into deadly situations,” Ellis said.
The correlation between IPV and mass shootings is why Lumina Alliance says gun violence impacts everyone. According to their website, nearly 60% of mass shootings between 2014 to 2019 were related to domestic violence.
“I think this is something that shocks people,” Ellis said. “It’s not something we talk about a lot when we talk about mass violence, but it’s such a big factor.”
Ellis said this component creates a public health and safety concern.
“People think of domestic violence as something that affects just one household, or one relationship, or one family, but that’s really not the case,” Ellis said. “When you have an intimate partner violence-related shooting, that tends to include other people – it includes neighbors, it includes first responders, police.”
Lumina Alliance has a few other objectives, including their pledge to the community to be “a bright light during dark times” according to their website.
“We’re also trying to provide the community with tips for gun safety and raising awareness about some of the other pathways to safety we have,” she said.
Ellis said the campaign also creates awareness about the wide selection of resources that Lumina Alliance provides for survivors.
“We kind of want to be a one-stop shop,” she said. “It’s a case-by-case basis thing, but we try to provide everything that a survivor might need.”
In the upcoming weeks, Lumina Alliance will extend its campaign through local papers, billboards, social media posts and their newsletter. A grant from the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) helped launch the campaign.
The gun safety campaign coincides with ongoing legal proceedings in the Supreme Court in the United States v. Rahimi case. Determining the accessibility of guns for individuals with a history of abuse, the case revolves around the constitutionality of a clause in domestic violence restraining orders (DVROs) that prohibit subjects of DVROs from having guns.
According to Ellis, this clause is a necessary safety measure.
“When you remove firearms from someone under a domestic violence restraining order or abuser, it’s protecting the survivor, it’s protecting their family, but it’s also protecting everyone,” Ellis said.
For more information, visit Lumina Alliance’s gun safety webpage.