As October draws to a close, so does Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Michael Bloomberg’s NRA-busting gun control group, marked the month's passing with an event Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill, flying survivors of domestic violence to Washington, D.C., to tell their stories. Those in attendance included Hollie Ayers from Pennsylvania, whose estranged husband shot her and killed their two-year-old son, and Sarah Engle from Wisconsin, whose ex-boyfriend murdered her mother. They urged Congress to pass comprehensive background checks for gun buyers like the men who assailed them.
Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, last December, advocates for gun control have made mothers—mothers who have lost children to gun violence, mothers who live in fear for their kids—their prevailing symbol. Today, Mayors Against Illegal Guns laid out the numbers on how guns hurt women and mothers in particular.
Here are the five scariest facts about guns and domestic violence—and two more that make a strong case for mandatory background checks.