Handgun Ownership and Suicide in California

Studdert, David M.; Zhang, Yifan; Swanson, Sonja A; Prince, Lea; Rodden, Jonathan; Holsinger, Erin E; Spittal, Matthew J; Wintemute, Garen J.; Miller, Matthew

doi:10.1056/nejmsa1916744

Cited by 160 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The elevated suicide risk applies to other household members as well as the firearm owner. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Survivors of suicide attempts using firearms report that the availability of guns at home is the primary reason for their method choice. 19,20 There is a common misperception that people who are intent on suicide and are thwarted or survive an attempt using one method will try again with another.…”

Section: Veteran Suicide and Firearmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Veterans, Firearms, and Suicide: Safe Storage Prevention Policy and the PREVENTS Roadmap

Lemle¹

2020

Federal Practitioner

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Section: Veteran Suicide and Firearmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Veterans, Firearms, and Suicide: Safe Storage Prevention Policy and the PREVENTS Roadmap

Lemle¹

2020

Federal Practitioner

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“…Prior research has shown that suicide rates for all methods, including rearms, differ widely among the 50 states and that those differences are driven by the disparities in rearm suicides. 9Understanding what is driving the difference in rearm suicide rates -factors such as rearm ownership and (11,12) There is also growing evidence that laws such as extreme risk protection orders and programs at gun shops, shooting ranges, and law enforcement for temporary storage that provide opportunities to temporarily remove access to rearms when people are at risk can prevent rearm suicide.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incidence of Firearm Suicide in US Congressional Districts Estimated from County-Level Underlying Cause of Death Reports

Schnippel¹,

Burd-Sharps²

2020

Preprint

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Background: Suicide is the most common form of violent death in the US and firearms are the most common means of suicide, contributing to half of all suicide deaths. The focus of this research is calculating suicide and firearm suicide counts and rates for each congressional district in order to highlight the types of legislation and local programs that can address this public health crisis in each district.Methods: Counts of suicides and firearm suicides for the congressional districts were calculated by weighting county counts as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the five-year period 2014 to 2018 by the proportion of the county population allocated to the congressional district for that population group as available from the Census Bureau’s Summary File for the 116th Congress. The weighted counts were then summed over the counties in the congressional district. Results: There are 52 firearm suicides on average per congressional district each year, yet there is tremendous district-level variation across the country and even within states. Seventeen districts—in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Washington, DC—have 10 or fewer firearm suicides each year. On the other hand, 11 districts—in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Tennessee—have over 100 gun suicides each year. 88 percent of the difference in congressional district-level suicide rates is explained by differences in firearm suicide. The proportion of suicides by firearm out of all suicides ranges from 6% to 73% across districts. Rates of suicide by other means were similar across rural and urban districts, while rates of firearm suicide were on average 5 times higher in rural districts (1.77 in urban compared to 10.60 per 100,000 population in rural). Conclusions: Understanding the incidence of firearm suicide in US congressional districts can provide tools for holding elected officials accountable for taking steps-- including research funding, key policies, storage practices, public education initiatives -- to protect the lives of their constituents by preventing firearm suicide.

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“…Having a firearm readily available in these situations creates additional risk. [14][15][16][17] While most major news sources reported initial decreases in violent crime, as measured by local police calls for service, following pandemic-related lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, the latest indications are that more serious acts of violence, particularly those involving firearms, have remained the same or increased. 18 In addition to a marked rise in shootings in several big cities across the country, 19 the pandemic appears to have fueled a surge in firearm background checks, an established proxy for firearm sales.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Violence, firearms, and the coronavirus pandemic: Findings from the 2020 California Safety and Wellbeing Survey

Kravitz‐Wirtz

Aubel

Schleimer

et al. 2020

Preprint

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IMPORTANCE: Violence is a significant public health problem that has become entwined with the coronavirus pandemic. Conditions that contribute to violence--poverty, unemployment, lack of available resources, isolation, hopelessness, and loss--have intensified and are further compounded by the recent surge in firearm sales, which is itself a risk factor for firearm-related harm. OBJECTIVE: To describe individuals' worry about violence for themselves and others in the context of the pandemic, pandemic-related unfair treatment, as well as the prevalence of and reasons for firearm acquisition and changes in firearm storage practices due to the pandemic. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study used data from the California Safety and Wellbeing Survey, a statewide Internet survey of 2,870 California adults (18 years of age and older) conducted from July 14 to July 27, 2020. Responses were weighted to be representative of the state population of adults. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Survey topics for this study included: changes in worry about violence happening to oneself, by type of violence and location, before and during the pandemic; concern someone else might physically hurt another person or themselves on purpose due to a pandemic-related loss; experiences of unfair treatment related to the pandemic; firearm and ammunition acquisition and changes in firearm storage practices due to the pandemic; and participation in civic and political activities "in response to gun violence" during the pandemic. RESULTS: Worry about violence significantly increased during the pandemic for all violence types except mass shootings. More than 1 in 10 respondents were concerned that someone they know might intentionally harm another person (12.2%) or themselves (13.1%). Of those concerned about self-harm for someone else, 7.5% said it was because the person had suffered a pandemic-related loss. An estimated 110,000 individuals acquired a firearm in response to the pandemic (2.4% of current firearm owners), including 47,000 new owners. Approximately 55,000 individuals (1.2% of owners) who currently store at least one firearm loaded and not locked up said they had adopted this unsecure storage practice in response to the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Given the impulsive nature of many types of violence, short-term crisis interventions, such as options for temporary firearm storage outside the home, extreme risk protection orders, and efforts involving community-based violence intervention workers, may be critical for reducing violence-related harm now and following other societal shocks.

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Handgun Ownership and Suicide in California

Cited by 160 publications

References 42 publications

Veterans, Firearms, and Suicide: Safe Storage Prevention Policy and the PREVENTS Roadmap

Veterans, Firearms, and Suicide: Safe Storage Prevention Policy and the PREVENTS Roadmap

Incidence of Firearm Suicide in US Congressional Districts Estimated from County-Level Underlying Cause of Death Reports

Violence, firearms, and the coronavirus pandemic: Findings from the 2020 California Safety and Wellbeing Survey

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