Grand Forks Selected for Federal Partnership to Address Domestic Violence Involving Firearms

The Quentin Burdick federal courthouse in Fargo, North Dakota. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) -The U.S. Department of Justice designated Grand Forks as one of 78 initial partnership communities that will focus on gun violence crime involving intimate partners. That is according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of North Dakota .

The program will team U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Field Divisions with the city, county and state attorney’s resources in Grand Forks to create a plan to reduce intimate partner violence with a firearm.

Part of the plan will address how to better prioritize prosecuting domestic violence offenders who possess firearms unlawfully, which could include the appointment of special assistant U.S. attorneys to prosecute future cases in federal court, according to the news release.

“Our law enforcement partners in Grand Forks have made reducing domestic violence a priority for decades,” said Mac Schneider, U.S. attorney for the District of North Dakota. “By targeting domestic violence offenders who illegally possess firearms for prosecution in federal court, we can save lives and protect families.”

Weapons were used in at least 11% of domestic violence cases reported in 2023 to North Dakota domestic violence advocacy centers, according to data compiled by CAWS North Dakota.

“This additional tool in our tool chest will help us to hold accountable the most lethal offenders of intimate partner violence and ensure justice for the victims of these crimes,” Grand Forks County State’s Attorney Haley Wamstad said in a statement.