Jessica Chastain as Miss Sloane (Picture: eOne)

Jessica Chastain has relayed a heartbreaking story of one woman who was shot dead by an abusive ex-husband, making a powerful argument for background checks for all who wish to purchase a gun.

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In her new movie Miss Sloane, Chastain stars as a lobbyist who switches sides and fights to help pass gun control legislation, and now Chastain has revealed a devastating story that she discovered while prepping for the movie.

‘I read this story about this woman who was suffering from domestic violence, and she finally got free and the police helped, her and her children left, and there was a restraining order against her husband,’ Chastain says.



‘He went to a gun store to buy a gun and was denied, because she had a restraining order against him.


‘The next day he went to a gun show, without an ID, bought a gun, and killed her.’

She adds: ‘So I don’t think that stuff like that should happen – everyone should have a background check.’

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Gun control has been a hot topic in American politics for decades, and despite the continued appearance of mass shootings in the news, the gun lobby continue to put pressure on politicians, causing important legislation to stall.

For women in particular, there is a strong correlation between domestic violence and gun violence.

‘Domestic violence in America is to a significant degree a problem of gun violence’ said Everytown For Gun Safety Support Fund, an independent, non-partisan organisation dedicated to understanding and reducing gun violence in America.

‘Over the past 25 years, more intimate partner homicides in the U.S. have been committed with guns than with all other weapons combined.’

Family members and friends of people who were killed by gun violence gather with Congressional Democrats (Picture: Getty Images)

Chastain’s story sadly isn’t unusual – Zina Daniel finally sought a restraining order against her abusive husband, and under federal law, the order prohibited him from buying or possessing firearms.

‘His threats terrorise my every waking moment,’ she wrote in her petition at the time. He said he would kill me if I left him or even contacted the police.’

Two days after the order was put in place, her husband exploited a loophole in the law and was able to purchase a gun from an unlicensed seller on the website Armslist.com.

Three days later Zina was dead.

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