Handgun Ownership Raises Odds for Gun Suicide

Proudly owning a handgun will increase an individual’s threat of firearm-related suicide greater than proudly owning a shotgun, a brand new examine finds.

Researchers surveyed surviving family members of 121 gun house owners who had died by suicide, together with 93 who died by a firearm and 28 by different means.

The survey respondents had been requested concerning the varieties and numbers of firearms the one that died had owned.

In keeping with the findings, 77% of those that died utilizing a firearm and 61% of those that died by one other technique owned a handgun, the survey discovered. Almost 90% of people that solely owned handguns used a firearm of their suicide demise, in comparison with about 82% of those that solely owned shotguns.

The examine, revealed on-line Feb. 11 within the journal Archives of Suicide Analysis, additionally discovered the extra firearms an individual owned, the much less seemingly they had been to make use of one to take their very own life.

The discovering shocked examine writer Michael Anestis. He’s government director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Analysis Heart at Rutgers College, in West Piscataway.

“Though such stockpiling might enhance the percentages of different problematic outcomes, it seems from our outcomes that the danger for firearm suicide may very well be highest amongst those that personal just one or a small variety of firearms,” Anestis mentioned in a college information launch.

Suicide deaths have elevated 33% in america up to now 18 years, in keeping with the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.

In an try to scale back suicides, researchers try to establish elements that have an effect on whether or not an individual makes use of a firearm or different strategies to take their very own life, Anestis famous.

“It’s clear that firearm entry will increase threat of suicide demise total, however little is understood about what differentiates firearm house owners who die by suicide utilizing a firearm from those that select one other technique regardless of having firearm entry,” he defined.

Shotguns, which are usually used primarily for leisure functions like looking, are sometimes saved in looking lodges or with locking units, Anestis mentioned. That makes them much less accessible than handguns, which are sometimes purchased for cover and could also be saved loaded and simply accessible.

“It additionally might merely be that any firearm within the dwelling bestows threat of use as a suicide technique, however that when a number of varieties of firearms are owned, a person is more likely to default to handguns resulting from logistical points or ease of entry,” he recommended.

The findings would possibly assist enhance information about which individuals in danger for suicide are probably to make use of firearms, which might result in more practical interventions, Anestis added.