Rory Graves writes in the Tri-City Herald:

In 2012, my mother became one of far too many women who fall victim to domestic violence when she was shot by her husband. Thankfully she survived her attack, but many women are not as lucky. Domestic violence can easily become fatal when abusers have easy access to guns, and that is the reality my family lives with to this day. That’s why I urge you to join me this November in voting for Initiative 594, which will help keep guns out of dangerous hands, reduce crime, and save lives.

…

No one measure can stop all incidents of gun violence. But we know that background checks are effective at keeping guns out of dangerous hands. In states with background checks on all handgun sales, 38 percent fewer women were shot to death by intimate partners. As a domestic violence advocate, I know that these figures are more than statistics; they represent real women in abusive relationships who may well be kept from harm by a simple and easy background check.

Read the whole letter here.