Implementing Domestic Violence Gun Confiscation Policy in Rural and Urban Communities: Assessing the Perceived Risk, Benefits, and Barriers

The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of why communities differing in culture and resources are willing and able to implement gun confiscation as part of a protective order in the absence of a uniform statewide gun law. Specifically, the perceived risk of intimate partner homicide and gun violence, effectiveness of implementing gun confiscation, and the barriers to implementing gun confiscation were assessed. Interviews were conducted with key community professionals (N = 133) who worked in victim services and the justice system in one urban community and four rural, under-resourced communities. Analyses revealed that professionals in the rural communities viewed the risk of intimate partner homicide and gun violence as lower, and the process of implementing gun confiscation as less effective than professionals in the urban community. In addition, urban justice system professionals, in comparison with all other professionals, reported fewer barriers to enforcing the gun confiscation police and were more likely to downplay law enforcement limitations in the community. The results have implications for developing more effective regional strategies in states that lack domestic violence gun laws as a means to increase a community’s ability to enforce gun policies and initiatives.