Firearm Homicide and Firearm Suicide: Opposite but Equal

Abstract

SYNOPSISObjective. Homicide and suicide are intentional acts of violence that disproportionately involve firearms. Much more effort has been devoted to the ecological study of homicide; methods that have been developed to better understand and subsequently prevent homicide may be applicable to suicide. The purpose of the present study was to compare the occurrence of firearm homicide and firearm suicide using routine activity theory as a framework for analysis.Methods. Detailed mortality data pertaining to decedents, their neighborhoods, and use of firearms were collected from 1994 to 1998 for the counties containing and surrounding three small to medium-sized U.S. cities. Data from a total of 468 neighborhoods that collectively experienced 1,025 intentional deaths from firearms (396 firearm homicides and 629 firearm suicides) were analyzed.Results. Firearm homicide was consistently associated with outof-home, nighttime activity in neighborhoods where many people were likely to be coming and going. In an opposite-but-equal fashion, firearm suicide was consistently associated with in-home, daytime activity in out-of-the-way neighborhoods.Conclusions. Firearm homicide and firearm suicide were found to be consistently associated with markers of routine activity in all three cities, albeit in an opposite-but-equal manner. Because firearm suicides very often occur as lonely events in lonely neighborhoods, they may go under-noticed relative to firearm homicides. More awareness and additional public health studies of firearm suicide, in tandem with firearm homicide, should be pursued to better identify individuals and neighborhoods that are at greatest risk of experiencing each event.PHOTO: EARL DOTTER

Acute Alcohol Consumption, Alcohol Outlets, and Gun Suicide

“…Unlike the lax monitoring of potentially at-risk patrons and the generally anti-social environment in off-premise outlets, on-premise alcohol outlets seemed to provide nonalcoholic goods and services to their patrons as well as a certain social connectivity that may have, in some ways, reduced feelings of isolation and enhanced the kind of face-to-face guardianship that can be used to potentially identify ideators and suppress short-lived suicidal impulses (Branas, Richmond, & Schwab, 2004; Duberstein et al, 2004; Heath, 2007). Based on the limited findings we report here, this idea is, at present, only hypothetical and speculative.…”

Vacant Properties and Violence in Neighborhoods

“…The variables considered were geographic size (land area) [22], population (total population and population density) [14, 22, 35–37], age (median age) [14, 38, 39], gender (male to female ratio) [37, 38, 40], race (number of white residents, number of black residents) [30, 36, 41, 42], ethnicity (number of Hispanic residents) [36, 38], racial segregation (diversity index) [14, 43], economic disadvantage (median household income, poverty level, and unemployment) [39, 42, 44], education (high school diploma rate and bachelor degree rate) [45], family structure (single-parent households) [14, 39, 42], residential tenure (number of owner versus renter-occupied properties) [9, 20, 42], and land use (number of residential versus commercial properties) [36, 44, 46]. The variables were compiled using 2004 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the midpoint of the study period.…”

Firearm Violence in America: A Growing Health Problem

“…[37], [38], [39] Firearm homicide is more likely to occur outside of the home, during nighttime activity where there is a high number of people coming and going with low levels of guardianship (family members, friends, teachers, police, etc.). [40] This indicates the importance of the environment and points to potential points of intervention. Such as removing guns from legally prohibited carriers or changing the environment by increasing the adult presence and vigilance in high-risk environments.…”