ALBANY (AP) Guns were used in 195 domestic-related killings in New York from 2006 through 2014, according to an Associated Press review of FBI records. Nationally, 6,235 people were killed in such attacks, with current wives and girlfriends accounting for 75 percent of the victims.
THE NUMBERS
New York's 195 killings compared with 637 in California, with a population twice as large, and with 798 in Texas, the second most populous state. The annual number in New York ranged from a low of 17 in 2014 to a high of 31 in 2007 and typically is about 20 per year.
THE VICTIMS
Of the killings in New York, 88 of the victims were girlfriends and 74 were wives. Combined, that was 83 percent of the total. The others included nine boyfriends, seven common-law wives, one ex-husband, eight ex-wives and eight husbands. In all, 177 of the victims were women. The killings happened across the state, with 79 counted in New York City.
THE LAWS
More than a dozen states in the past two years have moved to toughen laws limiting a domestic abuser's legal ability to own a firearm. New York's gun ownership rules in general are among the strictest in the nation, and the state has followed the federal government's lead in restricting ownership by people with even just misdemeanor convictions for domestic crimes. Any buyer at a licensed dealer or gun show is vetted through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The last time the state added a new domestic violence provision was in 2013. As part of the SAFE Act, gun owners are required to safely store guns so domestic abusers living with them can't get access to the weapons.
AP data journalist Meghan Hoyer collected and prepared the statistics.
