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Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review
TABLE 7-6 Quasi-Experimental Studies of Gun Laws and Suicide
Source
Areas and Time Period Compared
Gun Law
Population
Reuter and Mouzos
Australian states,
1979-1998
1996 gun buy-back
Whole population
Ludwig and Cook (2001)
50 states + DC
1985-1997
1994 Brady act
21-54 years
55+
Lott and Whitley (2000)
50 states + DC
1979-1996
Safe storage laws
Other gun laws
Children and adolescents 0-19
Cummings, Grossman, Rivara, and Koepsell (1997a)
50 states + DC
1979-1994
Safe storage laws
Children under 15
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The committee draws the following conclusions on the basis of the present evidence:
States, regions, and countries with higher rates of household gun ownership have higher rates of gun suicide. There is also cross-sectional, ecological association between gun ownership and overall risk of suicide, but this association is more modest than the association between gun ownership and gun suicide; it is less consistently observed across time, place, and persons; and the causal relation remains unclear.
The risk of suicide is highest immediately after the purchase of a handgun, suggesting that some firearms are specifically purchased for the purpose of committing suicide.
Some gun control policies may reduce the number of gun suicides, but they have not yet been shown to reduce the overall risk of suicide in any population.
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