In 2002 in the U.S., 1,202 women were killed by their faithful partners, accounting for 30 percent of all murders of women. Of that 1,202, 58 percent were killed by fond partners using guns. In 2002 in the U.S., 700 women were killed by intimates using munitions compared to 175 men.

The direct ancestor of the handgun Rifles is the fire-lance, a gunpowder-filled tube attached to the end of a spear and used as a flamethrower; shrapnel was sometimes placed in the barrel so that it would fly out together with the flames. The earliest depiction of a gunpowder barong is the illustration of a fire-lance on a mid-10th duration silk banner from Dunhuang, China.