Partner Projects
National Center on Protection Orders and Full Faith and Credit
Firearms Technical Assistance Project
About
The National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and Firearms (NRCDVF) was established in 2013 through a grant from the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) of the U.S. Department of Justice. This project’s goal is to enhance the implementation and enforcement of firearms prohibitions in cases involving domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.
In 2016, OVW formally launched NRCDVF and introduced the first-ever dedicated resource center and website focused on addressing the dangerous role firearms play in domestic violence.
Operated by the Battered Women’s Justice Project (BWJP), the NRCDVF equips communities with the tools, resources, and guidance needed to navigate complex firearm laws and enhance safety for victims and survivors. We offer training, technical assistance, policy analysis, and a comprehensive library of resources that help law enforcement, courts, prosecutors and other legal professionals, advocates, and other community stakeholders understand the intersection of domestic violence and firearms and how to better implement and enforce related legal protections.
Our work focuses on identifying gaps and barriers in the implementation of gender-based violence-related firearms laws and offering tailored solutions that reflect the realities faced by survivors and communities on the ground. We also facilitate community-based peer modeling, connecting successful jurisdictions with those looking to strengthen their own policies and practices. To further support these efforts, we track and analyze evolving trends in legislation and case law, ensuring our resources are current and grounded in the latest legal frameworks.
Together, we and our partners are working to create comprehensive and sustainable strategies that keep victims and survivors safe, support those who serve them, promote offender accountability, and make our communities stronger.
Key Personnel
In addition to crucial partnerships, the National Domestic Violence and Firearms Resource Center is comprised of key personnel working to address domestic violence-related gun violence.
Jennifer Becker, Esq.
Project Director.
Jennifer Becker serves as the Director of the National Center on Gun Violence and Relationships and Project Director of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and Firearms at the Battered Women’s Justice Project. Jennifer is an attorney and began her career as a prosecutor in Bronx, NY where she specialized in cases involving sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse and handled hundreds of cases from investigation through trial. She subsequently served as the Title IX Coordinator for the largest K-12 school district in the country, charged with ensuring effective prevention and response to gender-based violence among students and staff. Prior to BWJP, Jennifer served as the Legal Director at Legal Momentum, the Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund where she implemented innovative legal strategies combining impact litigation, policy advocacy and educational initiatives addressing sex discrimination and a wide range of issues faced by survivors of gender-based violence—including work on issues related to the intersection of domestic violence and firearms, passage of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2022 and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
Roberta Valente, Esq.
Attorney Advisor.
Rob Valente is an Attorney Advisor at the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and Firearms and the National Resource Center on Gun Violence in Relationships for BWJP, with specialized interests in firearms, federal domestic violence laws and interventions, and tribal issues relating to domestic violence. She served as one of the lead national coordinators of legislative work to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act in 2005 and 2013. Previously, Rob has worked for the Family Violence Department of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the National Network to End Domestic Violence. She has also served as a consultant on civil legal issues regarding domestic violence for various organizations, including the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Alaska Native Women’s Coalition, the Southwest Indigenous Women’s Center, and the National Congress of American Indians. She also served as Attorney Advisor to the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women and was the founding Director of the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence. In these roles, Rob has worked to improve legal responses to domestic violence and increase access to justice for all survivors of domestic violence. She has received the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence’s 2011 Sharon L. Corbitt Award and the 2009 National Congress of American Indians Public Sector Leadership Award.