The US Department of Justice on Wednesday announced it has charged more than 500 domestic violence cases involving firearms during Fiscal Year (FY) 2020. 

"The statistics are clear that when domestic violence offenders have access to guns, their partners and their families are at much greater risk of falling victim to gun violence. In fact, in some communities across America, roughly half of the homicides are related to domestic violence," US Attorney General William Barr said in the release.

According to the CDC, data suggests that about one in six homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner. Nearly half of female homicide victims in the U.S. are killed by a current or former male intimate partner.

Domestic violence abusers with a gun in the home are five times more likely to kill their partners than those living in gun-free homes, the release said.

About 40 percent of Americans say that they or someone in their household has a gun, according to multiple public opinion surveys.

Source: Agencies