Rising longitudinal trajectories in suicide rates: The role of firearm suicide rates and firearm legislation

Psychopathy and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Revisited: Results From a Statewide Population of Institutionalized Youth

“…Psychopathy is extensively examined in juvenile justice settings for its usefulness in risk assessment (DeLisi, 2016;Frick, Ray, Thornton, & Kahn, 2014;Viljoen, McLachlan, & Vincent, 2010), and should also be examined for its risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Given the association between firearm ownership and suicide ideation in the present study, and research indicating that experience with firearms may habituate individuals to the concepts of death and pain (Anestis et al, 2017), the study highlights a clear point of intervention. As gun ownership is a tangible risk factor, the use of firearms means safety strategies (e.g., limitation of access to and safe storage) may interrupt the transition from suicidal thoughts to actions.…”

Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors in Child and Adolescent Health, 1990 to 2017

“… 30 , 31 , 32 Others are much more amenable to policies and programs that focus on prevention using what have come to be regarded as common-sense safety measures, such as speed limits, seat belts, and cycle helmets for road traffic accidents, 33 , 34 fencing around water hazards and swimming-skills training for drowning, 35 and policies to prevent self-harm via improving safety and limiting access to firearms and chemicals. 36 , 37 …”

Firearm legislation and statewide suicide rates: The moderating role of household firearm ownership levels

“…Indeed, decades of research using a variety of methodological and analytical strategies have demonstrated that stricter firearm legislation is associated with lower suicide rates (Boor & Bair, 1990;Fleegler, Lee, Monuteax, Hemenway, & Mannix, 2013;Ludwig & Cook, 2000). Such findings have been replicated and expanded upon several times in recent years, with multiple independent research groups reporting that firearm legislation is associated with lower overall suicide rates both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, and both when laws are considered individually and when they are measured using an aggregated score of the overall strength of firearm legislation (Alban et al, 2018;Anestis, Selby, & Butterworth, 2017;Jehan et al, 2018;Kaufman, Morrison, Branas, & Wiebe, 2018;Kivisto & Phalen, 2018). Research examining individual laws has focused primarily on universal background checks, mandatory waiting periods and, more recently, extreme risk protection orders.…”