Domestic Violence Figures

Every fifteen seconds, an act of domestic violence occurs. 50% of all willful homicides of females are committed by a past or present intimate partner; 20% of all murders (more than 4000 each year) in the U.S. are domestic-violence related; 63% of all boys, aged 11 to 20, who are arrested for murder, have killed the man who was assaulting their mother; Up to 50% of all homeless women and children in the U.S. are fleeing domestic violence; After being sheltered, 31% of abused women in New York City returned to their abusers primarily because they could not locate longer-term housing; 15-25% of all females who are battered are pregnant. The March of Dimes reports that more babies are now born with birth defects as a result of the mother being battered during pregnancy than from the combination of all the diseases and illnesses for which we immunize pregnant women; Battering is the single major cause of injury to women-more frequent than auto accidents, muggings, and rapes combined; 85% of batterers watched domestic violence occur in their own home as children, and/or experienced physical/sexual abuse themselves; Every five years, there are more women killed in domestic-violence incidents in the U.S. than there were U.S. casualties in Vietnam. I wonder how many of these people could have protected themselves with disguised stun-guns or pepper sprays? If you're worried about your spouse or boyfriend, get yourself "the difference" by obtaining a disguised stun gun or pepper spray. Don't proudly proclaim to the person you're worried about that you have it. Don't "threaten him" with it if he attacks you. He'll just take it away from you and use it on you. Use it without a word and get away from there! Take immediate steps to make sure he can't find you. It is the element of surprise, coupled with the pain that makes these things work.