All Things Considered

Women in abusive relationships linked to straw gun purchases

A person's face lit up by a candle outside
A man holds a candle among the crowd at a vigil outside of Burnsville City Hall following a domestic situation that left two Burnsville officers and a firefighter medic dead.
Tim Evans for MPR News

Since the fatal shooting of three Burnsville first responders in February, another first responder — Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchell — was fatally shot on the job.

Details about the gun used in last week’s fatal shooting of Mitchell has not yet been released, but the shooter in Burnsville obtained his guns through a straw purchase — when a person buys a gun for someone else who is not legally allowed to make a gun purchase.

Stephen Montemayor, reporter with the Star Tribune, learned a many of those purchasers are women in abusive relationships. He spoke MPR News host Tom Crann about his article on straw gun buyers.

Click play on the audio player above to hear the entire conversation.