Firearms Were Used in Nearly 65% of Male-on-Female Killings as Domestic Abuse Escalated to Homicide
The share of women killed by men with firearms increased sharply over the past decade, rising from 51% in 2011 to 64.9% in 2023.
That trend is one of the most consequential findings in a study by The Law Offices of Tad Nelson, which examined intimate partner homicide, domestic violence injuries, murder-suicides, separation-related risk and the states where spouses face the highest levels of danger.
The research found that more than 4.5 million women living in the United States have been threatened with a gun by an intimate partner. It also found that the period when a victim attempts to leave an abusive relationship is one of the most common triggers for homicide.
Intimate Partner Violence by the Numbers
- Twenty people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner.
- One in four women experience severe intimate partner violence, sexual violence or violent stalking.
- One in nine men experience those forms of abuse.
- Women represent 77.9% of intimate partner homicide victims.
- Men represent 77% of offenders in domestic violent crimes.
- Women represent 75% of victims.
- More than 55% of murdered women are killed following intimate partner violence.
- More than 4.5 million women have been threatened with a firearm by a partner.
- The firearm share of male-on-female killings rose to 64.9% in 2023.
- More than 1.1 million people experienced domestic-related violent crime from 2020 to 2024.
- Nearly 700,000 were injured.
- Healthcare costs exceed $4 billion annually.
Firearm Involvement Rose by More Than a Quarter
The share of women killed by men with a firearm rose 13.9 percentage points between 2011 and 2023.
| Year | Firearm Share |
|---|---|
| 2011 | 51.0% |
| 2023 | 64.9% |
The relative increase was approximately 27.3%.
The increase means firearms were involved in nearly two-thirds of male-on-female killings by 2023.
Among more than 2,400 women killed by men in 2023, applying the 64.9% rate would equal approximately 1,558 firearm deaths.
The firearm risk is not limited to fatal incidents. Approximately 4.5 million women have been threatened with a gun by an intimate partner.
Victims Usually Know Their Killers
Among the women killed by men in 2023:
- Nine in 10 knew their killers.
- Wives or intimate acquaintances accounted for 57.1%.
- Most killings occurred during an argument.
- More than half followed intimate partner violence.
The findings contradict the idea that most female homicide victims are killed by strangers.
Of the 2,331 victims whose race was identified:
| Race | Victims | Approximate Share |
|---|---|---|
| White | 1,474 | 63.2% |
| Black | 733 | 31.4% |
| Asian or Pacific Islander | 79 | 3.4% |
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 45 | 1.9% |
Black women were heavily overrepresented relative to their share of the U.S. female population.
Separation Is One of the Most Dangerous Periods
Forty-four percent of women murdered by an intimate partner had already left or were attempting to leave the relationship.
Separation can increase risk because it threatens an abusive partner’s control.
Other common escalation points include:
- Divorce filings
- Child custody disputes
- Protective order requests
- Financial separation
- Relocation
- New relationships
- Attempts to retrieve property
- Court appearances
Nearly half of family homicides involving multiple victims were connected to family court proceedings.
The data suggests legal separation does not immediately end the danger and may temporarily increase it.
Texas Recorded the Most Murder-Suicides
During the first half of 2025, there were 237 murder-suicide incidents involving 526 victims.
| Measure | Total |
|---|---|
| Murder-suicide incidents | 237 |
| Victims | 526 |
| Average victims per incident | 2.22 |
Texas recorded 29 incidents.
| Rank | State | Incidents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | 29 |
| 2 | Georgia | 17 |
| 3 | Florida | 16 |
| 4 | Ohio | 15 |
| 5 | California | 10 |
| 5 | New York | 10 |
| 7 | Arizona | 9 |
| 7 | Missouri | 9 |
| 9 | Louisiana | 8 |
| 10 | Michigan | 7 |
The four leading states accounted for nearly one-third of all incidents.
Texas represented more than one in eight.
Most Murder-Suicide Perpetrators Had Prior Warning Signs
Approximately 80% of murder-suicide perpetrators were known to authorities or had documented abusive behavior.
Men committed more than 90% of incidents.
More than two-thirds followed longstanding intimate partner violence.
| Indicator | Share |
|---|---|
| Male offender | More than 90% |
| Prior abuse history | More than two-thirds |
| Known to authorities | Approximately 80% |
| Occurred in the home | 80% |
| Intimate partner case occurring at home | 85% |
| Children killed | 16% |
The high proportion of known offenders points to potential enforcement and supervision gaps.
The Home Is the Most Dangerous Location
The home was the setting for 80% of all murder-suicides and 85% of intimate partner murder-suicides.
That is significant because the home is often treated as a place of safety.
For victims of domestic violence, it can instead become the location where access, isolation and firearm availability overlap.
Most incidents involved one homicide victim:
| Victims Killed Before Offender Suicide | Share |
|---|---|
| One | 84% |
| Two | 10% |
| Three or more | 6% |
Children were killed in 16% of incidents, making family murder-suicide one of the most common forms of family mass killing.
The United States records:
- Three times as many familicide cases as Canada
- Eight times as many as Britain
- Fifteen times as many as Australia
Domestic Violence Injuries Extend Beyond Homicide
From 2020 through 2024, domestic aggravated assault, rape and robbery cases produced hundreds of thousands of injuries.
| Injury Type | Victims |
|---|---|
| Apparent minor injury | 453,375 |
| Other major injury | 94,296 |
| Possible internal injury | 78,552 |
| Severe laceration | 57,923 |
| Unconsciousness | 38,733 |
| Broken bones | 25,956 |
| Loss of teeth | 6,275 |
Major injuries, internal injuries, severe lacerations, unconsciousness, broken bones and lost teeth together accounted for more than 301,000 injury records.
The consequences often continue long after the immediate assault.
Intimate partner violence is associated with:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Insomnia
- Substance abuse
- Suicidal thoughts
- Suicide attempts
- Unintended pregnancy
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Miscarriage
- Stillbirth
- Preterm birth
Oklahoma and Nevada Reported Some of the Highest Lifetime Rates
The state data showed high prevalence in several parts of the country.
| State | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma | 49.1% | 40.7% |
| Nevada | 48.1% | 30.9% |
| Kentucky | 45.3% | 35.5% |
| Arizona | 42.6% | 33.4% |
| Missouri | 41.8% | 35.2% |
The figures mean that in Oklahoma, approximately:
- One in two women
- Two in five men
have experienced intimate partner violence, rape or stalking during their lifetime.
Nevada’s female rate was 48.1%, while Arizona reported nearly 304,000 women experiencing intimate partner stalking.
Missouri recorded more than 45,000 domestic violence incidents in 2018.
Women Were Three Times More Likely to Be Victims
Domestic violent crime data from 2020 through 2024 showed:
| Role | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Offenders | 844,558 | 249,341 |
| Victims | 284,118 | 835,506 |
Men accounted for approximately three-quarters of offenders.
Women accounted for approximately three-quarters of victims.
The victim totals were most concentrated among adults ages 21 to 40.
| Age Group | Victims |
|---|---|
| 0 to 10 | 72,000 |
| 11 to 20 | 159,000 |
| 21 to 30 | 305,000 |
| 31 to 40 | 282,000 |
| 41 to 50 | 161,000 |
| 51 to 60 | 84,000 |
| 61 and older | 53,000 |
Women in their twenties and thirties face particularly high exposure because those age groups overlap with marriage, cohabitation, pregnancy, separation and child custody disputes.
Age Gaps May Increase Homicide Risk
The average age difference between the offender and victim in intimate partner murder-suicides was 5.2 years.
Research indicates risk rises as the gap widens.
Older adults also appeared disproportionately among murder-suicide offenders. Adults ages 55 and older represented 25% of offenders, even though older adults rarely commit homicide overall.
That pattern may reflect the overlap between intimate partner homicide and suicide risk in older populations.
Abuse Allegations Are Often Misjudged
The response to abuse can be weakened when allegations are treated as exaggerated or false.
Custody evaluators without domestic violence training estimated that 40% to 80% of abuse allegations were false.
The actual rate of intentionally false child abuse reports was approximately 0.04%.
The difference is enormous.
An assumed false-report rate of 40% is 1,000 times the documented 0.04% level. An assumed rate of 80% is 2,000 times higher.
The gap can affect custody decisions, protective measures and the assessment of future danger.
Red Flag Laws Are Expanding but Remain Uneven
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have extreme risk protection order laws.
These measures allow courts to temporarily restrict firearm possession or purchases by people considered a danger to themselves or others.
The laws are especially relevant to domestic violence because firearms are increasingly involved in intimate partner killings and many murder-suicide perpetrators have prior documented behavior.
The Law Offices of Tad Nelson study shows that firearm access, separation and prior abuse are recurring factors in fatal domestic violence. The strongest findings are not limited to the final homicide. They appear earlier in threats, injuries, court disputes and documented behavior. The data indicates that the opportunity to prevent a fatal outcome often exists before the final incident occurs.
