PHILADELPHIA — Susan B. Sorenson of the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania will present research about gun policy and domestic violence to state legislators in the “Pennsylvania State Briefing: Domestic Violence,” sponsored by Women in Government on Feb.  15, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Pennsylvania Capitol Building in Harrisburg.

The event will be hosted by Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione and representatives Chelsea Wagner,  Kate Harper, Lynda Schlegel-Culver, Margo Davidson and Rosemary Brown.

“Guns are used to coerce as well as kill, and that is particularly evident in intimate relationships,” Sorenson said.  “Research consistently shows that the person who is most likely to harm a woman, whether assaulting her sexually or hurting her physically, is her male intimate.  And firearms are used to intimidate as well as injure.” 

Sorenson said that about a third of the murders of women in the U.S. are by male intimates, but in Pennsylvania it is about half.

The other presenter at the briefing will be Nancy Bregstein Gordon, a lecturer in the Penn Law School who teaches in the Supreme Court Clinic.  Gordon is a co-founder and current board member of CeasefirePA.  She will discuss possible legislative solutions to the problem of domestic gun violence and gun violence in general.