Household Firearm Ownership and Rates of Suicide Across the 50 United States

Abstract

Household firearm ownership levels are strongly associated with higher rates of suicide, consistent with the hypothesis that the availability of lethal means increases the rate of completed suicide.

Suicide Prevention Resource Center

“…A positive and significant association exists between levels of household firearm ownership and rates of firearm and overall suicide; rates of non-firearm suicide were not associated with levels of household firearm ownership." (Miller et al, 2007). The findings are "consistent with the hypothesis that the availability of lethal means increases the rate of completed suicide."…”

“…The findings are "consistent with the hypothesis that the availability of lethal means increases the rate of completed suicide." (Miller et al, 2007). This study controlled for the presence of serious mental illness and substance abuse and dependence (among other factors), to avoid any error that could be induced if individuals with these illnesses are more likely to own guns which could be used to end their lives.…”

Suicide Mortality in the United States: The Importance of Attending to Method in Understanding Population-Level Disparities in the Burden of Suicide

“…As in a smaller study of northeast states for which deliberate self-harm data were available (91), this study found in both crude and multivariate analyses, among men and women and in every age group, that states with higher rates of household gun ownership had higher rates of firearm suicide and overall suicide. The study showed no association between firearm ownership rates and nonfirearm suicide (92).…”

“…Just as the distribution of mortality rates for lung cancer accounts for a significant proportion of the variation in mortality from cancer overall, suicide mortality rates in the United States appear to be driven largely by rates of firearm suicide (86,88,91,92). For example, Figure 2 shows that suicide rates in rural areas of the United States are considerably higher than in urban areas: The most urban areas have mortality rates of less than 10 per 100,000 residents, compared with rates of more than 14 per 100,000 residents in the most rural areas.…”

“…Publicly available data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, used by a recent study (92) that examined predictors of variation in suicide rates across the 50 states, also reveal only modest correlations between suicide mortality and measures of psychiatric and behavioral problems. For example, across the 50 states, correlation coefficients relating suicide mortality and (a) major depressive disorder, (b) drug or alcohol abuse or dependence, and (c) a composite measure of serious psychological distress were, respectively, 0.4, 0.2, and 0.2.…”